Operation: Escort

Date: 09th January 1942 (Friday)

Unit: No. 229 Squadron. (motto: 'Be Bold'). 262 Wing, Western Desert

Type: Hurricane IIb

Serial: P5588

Code: HB-?

Base: RAF Mechili or Antela, Libya

Location: At sea

Pilot: Sgt. Arnold George Browne NZ/392011 RNZAF Age 28. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Very little information.

Taking off on a bomber escort operation at 14:00 hrs with nine others. During the escort, the squadron was intercepted by six enemy fighters. Four Hurricanes were shot down but Sgt. Browne was the only fatality.

Burial and personal details:

Sgt. Arnold George Browne. Alamein Memorial. Column 266. Born on the 10th January 1913 in Burracoppin, Western Australia. Educated at Macedon State School in Victoria. Moved to New Zealand around 1939. A miner for Blackwater Gold Mining Company in Waiuta. Enlisted as an aircraft hand on the 29th December 1939 in Levin. With No. 2 Service Flying Training School 17th January 1940. With No. Initial Training Wing 27th October 1940 as a pilot under training. With No. 3 Elementary Flying Training School 24th November 1940. No. 2 Flying Training School 18th January 1941. Pilot badge awarded on the 03rd March 1941 and promoted to sergeant 12th April 1941.

Embarked for England on 29th April 1941. With No. 3 Personnel Reception Centre 29th June 1941. 56 Operational Training Unit 14th July 1941 flying the Hurricane. Joined 87 squadron on 23rd September 1941. Embarked for West Africa in late September and then by air to Egypt. Joining 229 squadron on the 01st November 1941. A total of 256 flying hours were logged.

Son of Sydney George Browne, and of Emma Browne (née Arnold, later Horne). Stepson of Louis Albert Horne, of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

L-R: Rear; Clive Herbert Mulholland 403972 ✝, Archibald Douglas Vincent Forsyth 403957 ✝, G.S Cosgrove, C.H Fox, Stephen Delancy Watts 404008 ✝, Arthur Haig O'Brien 403474, W.K Wilby, Morris Donald Darwin McCarthy 403976 ✝, I.L Walton, Eric Edward Pedersen 403984 ✝.

Centre; Robert James Sim 403995 ✝, D.J Pyman, James Brian Monro 403970 ✝, H,C McAffer, P.S.G Thornton, Ian Arnaud Burgess 59597, Leonard Clarence Shepherd 403994 ✝, Ralph Holland Tye 404002 ✝, John Darral Ackerman 404113, James Keith Ward 404006, Alexander Cairns Anderson 403929 ✝, Arnold George Browne 392011 ✝.

Front; W.J McLeod, K.M Musker, A.G.A Murray, Bernard Norris Murdoch 40421 ✝, M.E Nairn, A.W Pierard, N.E.R Carrell, G Chapman, Richard James Clarke 403949 ✝. (Courtesy Air Museum of New Zealand)

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot, thanks to the extensive research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, Auckland Library Heritage Collection, Weekly News of New Zealand, Air Museum of New Zealand, Museum of Transport and Technology, Auckland, other sources as quoted below:

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