431006 - Unaccounted Airmen - 6-10-1943

[Alex Smart]

Hello,

UK
BARNES,Gordon Derrick - AC2c - RAFVR - 1816524 - Birstall, Leicestershire.
HOLDEN, John - F/Sgt (Pilot) - RAFVR - 655502 - Burnley, Lancashire.
SMITH, Thomas Raymond - Cpl - RAFVR - 1040013 - Wakefield, Yorkshire.

ALGERIA
MEDLICOTT, Arthur - LAC - RAFVR - 941069 - El Alia, Algeria.

ETHIOPIA
TWEEDIE, Graham Calderwood - F/O - RAFVR - 122926 - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

S. AFRICA
BRISTOW, David Harold - LAC - RAFVR - 1808426 - Kroonstad, S A Free State.
This man is listed on page 436 under the RAF members where the reason for death is not known.

Alex

[COL BRUGGY]

Hello,

Re: ETHIOPIA - TWEEDIE:

6-10-1943
East Africa Communication Flight, Eastleigh, Kenya.
Savoia Marchetti SM.79 "K36"

Crashed 1145, 3m W of Addis Ababa aerodrome.

122926 F/O (Pilot) Graham Calderwood TWEEDIE DFM RAFVR +
AUS400011 F/O (Pilot) Clarence Joseph BROWN RAAF Dangerously injured
AUS403254 F/Sgt (W.Op./Air Gnr.) William Morris CAMERON RAAF Slightly injured
1476062 LAC F E KITCHENER Slightly injured

F/O Tweedie buried Addis Ababa War Cemetery 4.A.9

Tweedie's DFM - 776013 F/Sgt No.37 Sqn. LG: 15/5/1942.

Col.

[dennis_burke]

Bristow, Medlicott and Smith are all DoAS.

Holden registered in Northumberland North First.

Barnes, in Oxford district. Found Barnes is also a DOAS case. His name is misprinted as AC2 D. Barnes in CasCom 324. I confirmed this via a google book search of old Aeroplane magazines where they published the mens serial number throughout the war, pity Flight didn't also.

[malcolm_raf]

Medlicott - No 156 MU

Bristow - 7 Air School

Smith - registered Wakefield

Holden - Hurricane I, V6610 of No 59 OTU which he abandoned off Beadnell, Northumberland, but did not survive

Has anbody anything on Flt Sgt R O Dyer, No 185 Sqn - Malta?

Malcolm

[dennis_burke]

For Dyer nothing more than
DIED OF WOUNDS OR INJURIES RECEIVED ON ACTIVE SERVICE printed in late 1943

[COL BRUGGY]

Malcolm,

Re: 1317726 F/Sgt (Pilot) Ralph Oswald DYER RAFVR:

No.185 Squadron, Hal Far, Malta.

F/Sgt Dyer arrived 1-8-43 Assigned to "A" Flight.

Friday, 1 October, 1943.

Practice by both flights. F/Sgt Dyer pranged on an attempted formation landing*. He was pretty badly hurt and his condition serious.

Wednesday, 6 October, 1943.

F/Sgt Dyer, better known in the Sqdn as "Scruffy" died last night. Scruffy was one of the gayer types on the Sqdn and he will definitely be missed by one and all.

See:
185:The Malta Squadron.
Rogers,Anthony (comp.).
Staplehurst:Spellmount,2005.
pp.235 & 241.

* Possibly, Spitfire Vc EF555 Undershot landing and hit dispersal pen, Hal Far 1-10-1943. FAC3.

Col.

[Ross_McNeill]

Hi Col,

F1180 confirms Dyer as pilot of EF555. Initially Cat B then altered to Cat E.

Regards
Ross

[COL BRUGGY]

Ross,

Thanks for the confirmation on F/Sgt Dyer.

Col.

[malcolm_raf]

Thanks Col and Ross

Back from holiday

Malcolm

[RecklessRat]

BRISTOW, David Harold - LAC - RAFVR - 1808426

David Harold Bristow
'Accountant's Clerk (on Active Service; Royal Air Force)'
Died at Voortreker Hospital, Kroonstadt, aged 19. 'Death due to shock caused by multiple abdominal injuries and fractured pelvis accidentally sustained when armoured car turned over.'

From the Form of Information of a Death on FamilySearch
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61...K-S?cc=3732502