Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.

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26.04.1943 No 141 Squadron Beaufighter IF X7751 Fl/Lt. A.I. Stuart

Operation: Night flying test

Date: 26th April 1943 (Monday)

Unit: No. 141 Squadron (10 Group)

Type: Beaufighter IF

Serial: X7751

Code: TW-?

Base: RAF Predannack, Cornwall

Location: Over airfield

Pilot: Fl/Lt. Antony Innes Stuart AUS/403383 RAAF Age 27. Killed

Obs: P/O. Thomas Benson Blackburn DFM. NZ/39197 RNZAF Age 25. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

After taking off at 14:25 hrs and ‘beating up’ the airfield in extremely windy conditions the wing tip caught a hut, causing the aircraft to roll over and I’ve into the ground. The Beaufighter caught fire, killing both crew members.

Burial details:

Fl/Lt. Antony Innes Stuart. Heston Cemetery. Section NW. Row C. Grave 30. Born on the 15th February 1916 in London, England, the son of Geoffrey B. J. Stuart and Evelyn Cicely Stuart, of Woy Woy, New South Wales, Australia.

P/O. Thomas Benson Blackburn DFM. Heston Cemetery. Section NW. Row C. Grave 31. Son of Thomas Voice Blackburn and of Marion Isobel Blackburn (nee McLeod), of Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand; husband of Patrica Blackburn, of Christchurch.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to the research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, Auckland Cenotaph, Weekly News of New Zealand, other sources as quoted below:

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