AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

• Kracker Archive
• Allied Losses
• Archiwum Polish
• Paradie Canadian
• RCAF
• RAAF
• RNZAF
• USA
• Searchable Lists

Info LogoAdd to or correct this story with a few clicks.
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.
Check our Research databases: Database List
.
We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.
141 crest

Operation: Patrol

Date: 19/20th January 1943 (Tuesday/Wednesday)

Unit: No. 141 Squadron (motto: Caedimus Noctu - 'We slay by night') 11 Group

Type: Beaufighter IF

Serial: V8266

Code: TW-?

Base: RAF Ford, Sussex

Location: English Channel

Pilot: Fl/Sgt. Lionel Kesson Guthrie NZ/404637 RNZAF Age 26. Missing - believed killed

Nav: Fl/Sgt. John Wellesley Wellington 1314415 RAFVR Age 21. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 23;25 hrs on a practice ground controlled interception and patrol.

When about 30 miles from base at 5,000 ftsuffered a starboard engine failure. It seemed that the windmilling propeller could not be feathered which led to a loss of height.

At 00:15 hrs the Beaufighter crashed into the sea 5 miles from Shoreham-on-Sea, only the body of the navigator was recovered.

Burial details:

Fl/Sgt. Lionel Kesson Guthrie. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 199. Born on the 15th April 1916 at Wanganui. A farm hand on his fathers farm at Ohakune prior to service. Served 4 years in the territorial army. Enlisted in the RNZAF at Levin on the on the 20th November 1940 as an air gunner but remastered as a pilot u/t on the 21st December 1940. Trained in Canada and awarded his pilots badge and promoted to sergeant on the 08th August 1941. Joined 141 squadron on the 08th January 1942 after conversion trains with 54 Operational Training Unit. Son of Kesson Campbell Guthrie and Clarice Ruby Guthrie (nee Hamilton), of Ohakune, Wellington, New Zealand. 545 flying hours logged - 162 on the Beaufighter. 44 operational sorties completed.

Fl/Sgt. John Wellesley Wellington. Shaw Cemetery, Newbury. Grave 809. Son of George Wellesley Wellington and Florence Emily Wellington, of Newbury, England.

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

KTY 23-03-2021

Pages of Outstanding Interest
History Airborne Forces •  Soviet Night Witches •  Bomber Command Memories •  Abbreviations •  Gardening Codenames
CWGC: Your Relative's Grave Explained •  USA Flygirls •  Axis Awards Descriptions •  'Lack Of Moral Fibre'
Concept of Colonial Discrimination  •  Unauthorised First Long Range Mustang Attack
RAAF Bomb Aimer Evades with Maquis •  SOE Heroine Nancy Wake •  Fane: Motor Racing PRU Legend
Acknowledgements
Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
Click any image to enlarge it

 Click to add your info via ticket on Helpdesk •Click to let us know via ticket on Helpdesk• Click to buy research books from Amazon •Click to explore the entire site
If you would like to comment on this page, please do so via our Helpdesk. Use the Submit a Ticket option to send your comments. After review, our Editors will publish your comment below with your first name, but not your email address.

A word from the Editor: your contribution is important. We welcome your comments and information. Thanks in advance.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2024 Last Modified: 23 March 2021, 16:30

Monitor Additions/Changes?Click to be informed of changes to this page. Create account for first monitor only, thereafter very fast. Click to close without creating monitor