Operation: Armed Recce

Date: 21/22nd April 1944 (Friday/Saturday)

Unit: No. 114 Squadron. 232 Wing. Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force (motto: 'With speed I strike')

Type: Boston IIIA

Serial: BZ365

Code: RT-J

Base: RAF Foggia No. 1, Celone, Italy

Location: Vallacorsa, Italy

Pilot: P/O. Allen Phill Jenkins NZ/413078 RNZAF Age 27. Killed

Nav: F/O. A.E. Bradley MiD. (awarded in 1945) 127117 RAFVR Injured - safe

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Percival Joseph Edwin Moxey 1318956 RAFVR Age 22. Killed

Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. Matthew Millar Hamilton NZ/42325 RNZAF Age 29. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 21:25 hrs with nine others on an armed reconnaissance operation.

Hit by anti-aircraft fire and badly damaged. The New Zealand pilot climbed sharply to enable the surging crew to bale out. The two air gunners were killed by the initial firing. During the climb the tail broke off, but the navigator managed to bale out.

The Boston crashed on hills near the village of Vallacorsa, with the remaining three crew. F/O. Bradley suffered a broken leg on landing but was assisted and cared for by a local Italian family. Evading capture he returned to his unit on the 28th May.

Burial details:

P/O. Allen Phill Jenkins. Cassino War Cemetery Coll. grave III. A. 12-14. Born on the 17th August 1916 at Wellington, the son of Philip Mexted Jenkins and Myrtle Harriett Beatrice Jenkins (née Munden), of Wellington, New Zealand. Worked for Radio Corporation as an engineer/foreman prior to enlisting on the 25th May 1941. A total 474 flying hours logged and on his 11th operation sortie.

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Percival Joseph Edwin Moxey. Cassino War Cemetery Coll. grave III. A. 12-14. Son of Mrs. R. Moxey, of Exeter, England. Grave inscription: 'Rest In Peace. Mother, Eileen And Ivor'.

Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. Matthew Millar Hamilton. Cassino War Cemetery Coll. grave III. A. 12-14. Born on the 22nd May 1914 at Gore on the South Island, the son of Henry Murray Hamilton and of Charlotte Calder Hamilton, (née Sutherland), of Garston, Southland, New Zealand and husband of Alice May Elizabeth Hamilton (née Soper), of Invercargill, Southland. Enlisted on the 25th January 1942 and prior to that worked as a shepherd. A total 169 flying hours logged and on his 11th operation sortie.

F/O. A.E. 'Mick' Bradley MiD - Survived the war. From Worthing, Sussex, 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, Weekly News of New Zealand, other sources as quoted below:

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