Aircraft crash near RAF Collyweston on 7th August 1944

**paulmcmillan** · 11th May 2022, 15:27

Originally Posted by paulmcmillan

FLIGHT SERGEANT
Pierre Jean Louis Terken
Service Number: 1319202
Regiment & Unit/Ship
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

2 Sqdn.

Date of Death
Died 08 July 1944

Age 23 years old

8th July 1944 X7630. Beaufighter If of 51 OTU Cranfield, Beds. Caught fire in the air, blew up nr Collyweston

On Air Britain suggested 2nd crewman was F/O Joannes Philip 'John' Hamelton (with an E), was severely injured but survived

**paulmcmillan** · 11th May 2022, 20:05

From Air Britain.

X7630 TOC 30MU 14Aug41; 27MU 21Aug41; 219Sqn 27Aug41; 32MU 10Oct41; TFU 28Oct41; 219 Sqn; 60OTU 6Jly42; 51OTU 18Aug42; 219Sqn 11Sep42; Cat B 16Jun43; Lancashire Aircraft Corp for repair 28Jun43; 19MU 3Mar44; 51OTU 3Apr44; port engine failed at 9000 ft altitude, caught fire and exploded near Collyweston, Northamptonshire (Flt Sgt P J Terken killed) 8Jly44

My note on Terken, who is buried in the RAF Regional Cemetery at Cambridge, is:

8 July 1944 1319202 Flt Sgt (Plt) Pierre Jean Louis Terken, RAFVR, 51OTU, 23. Son of John Joseph Marie and Martha Terken, of Schaebeek, Belgium. According to the CWGC, of 2Sqn – a previous unit? His parents emigrated to Australia, date unknown, and Flt Sgt Terken may have had dual Australian/Belgian nationality. Grave 13505.

Nothing on Hamelton, I'm afraid. As far as I can see, he was not mentioned in the London Gazette, despite being an officer. This makes me suspect he was not British or Commonwealth. A fellow Belgian?

**MARIAN8400** · 21st May 2022, 09:46

Hello, I'm writing to you from Belgium. I can give you some reliable information about JOHN HAMELTON (baptismal name Joannes-Philip) because he was my uncle. He was born in Belgium, in Oostende (Ostend) on the 4th September 1922. In May 1940 war broke out in Belgium and my maternal grandparents fled to England with their 6 children (aged between 2 and 17). My mum was 8 and her eldest brother was John. The family stayed in North Finchley , at St.Michael's Convent, until the end of the war. The very kind Sisters took very good care of them, after the war the mutual friendship lasted for decades. John joined the RAF as a Belgian volunteer. According to my mum he was a navigator. He of course could never tell his family about his military missions, but I do remember my mother telling that he had to jump out of a burning plane. He survived the war, married an English girl and had a son (born 21st February 1947) but he got seriously ill, he suffered from severe pulmonary edema, caused by his war injuries. He died at the age of 25, in the Military Hospital in Ostend on 22nd December 1947. He is burried in Ostend. I am very proud of my uncle. I hope someone can give me some more information about his time serving at the RAF (for instance what squadron he belonged to).