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.
RNZAF Crest
27.01.1944 No. 18 Squadron RNZAF P-40N NZ3200 Sgt. Knight

Operation: Escort

Date: 27th January 1944 (Thursday)

Unit: No. 18 Squadron RNZAF

Type: P-40N Warhawk

Serial: NZ3200

Code: -

Base: Torokina, Bougainville, Solomon Islands

Location: Cape Gazelle, Solomon Islands

Pilot: Sgt. Clifford William Douglas Knight NZ/425910 RNZAF Age 25. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at around 07:15 hrs with 11 others from the squadron as lower cover for US Marauders that were to bomb Lakunai airfield at Rabaul.

Sgt. Clifford Knight was one of two seen to be flying very low over the water near Cape Gazelle with 3 Japanese fighters in pursuit at about 09:15 hrs. Both pilots never returned.

The other, 33 year old, Fl/Lt. Clive Dudley Alfred Highet NZ/401273 flying Warhawk NZ3183. The remainder of the squadron returned safely.

Above left, during training in New Zealand. Right: shaving his moustache. Taken on DC3 flight back to New Zealand before his wife Alma sees it after first tour with 18 Squadron. (courtesy relatives)

Above: 18 Squadron pilots with Sgt. Clifford Knight shown rear row fifth from right (courtesy relatives)

Burial details:

Sgt. Clifford William Douglas Knight. Bourail Memorial Panel 7. Born on the 14th February 1918 at Temuka, the son of William Edgerton and Beatrice Knight (née Edgler) and husband of Alma Elizabeth May Knight (née Yeatman) of Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand. A total of 568 flying hours logged and on his second tour of operations in the South Pacific theatre.

Fl/Lt. Clive Dudley Alfred Highet. Bourail Memorial Panel 3. Born on the 26th April 1910 at Wellington, the son of Gilbert Campbell and Mabel Catherine Highet (née Henry) of Wellington, New Zealand. Husband of Beatrice Delamere Highet (née Cholmondeley) A Draftsman prior to service. Educated at Wellington College and Victoria University. A total of 1,700 flying hours logged and on his second tour of operations in the South Pacific theatre.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to Jenifer Lemaire and to the 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:

KTY 21.10.2019

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 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: 03 April 2021, 19:51

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