Operation: Interception

Date: 14th April 1941 (Easter Monday)

Unit: No. 73 Squadron (motto: Tutor et Ultor - 'Protector and Avenger'). 258 Wing. 204 Group

Type: Hurricane I

Serial: V7766

Code: -

Base: Bir el Gubi, Egypt

Location: As shown

Pilot: P/O. Owen Edward Lamb 42411 RAF Age 23. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off late in the afternoon to intercept a raid of over 30 enemy aircraft.

P/O. Lamb was shot down during the engagement and was buried in an isolated grave near the Tobruk - Bardiyah road.

Reinterred after the end of the war.

Burial and personal details:

P/O. Owen Edward Lamb. Knightsbridge War Cemetery. Grave 3.G.5. Born on the 10th May 1917 in Auckland. A clerk for P an T Department in stores. Selected for short service commission 24th April 1939. Embarked for England on the 06th May 1938 and arrived 08th June 1939. To RAF Yatesbury in Wiltshire on the 12th of January as a pilot under training with No. 10 Elementary Reserve Flying Training School.

To RAF Brize Norton with No. 2 Service Flying Training School around the 19th August 1939. Pilot badge awarded on the 03rd November 1939. Bombing and Gunnery School 01st December 1939 at RAF Newton Down. 6 Operational Training Unit 09th March 1940 at RAF Sutton Bridge for training on the Hurricane. No. 1 Air Armament School at Manby, Lincolnshire on the 13th April 1940 for ornament Officers Course. 5 Operational Training Unit at RAF Sutton Bridge on the 31st August 1940 for Hurricane refresher course. Joined 151 squadron on the 15 September 1940 and carried out 6 operational sorties.

Embarked with 73 squadron on HMS Furious to the Middle East on the 06th November 1940. Flew off Furious to Gold Coast and landed at Takoradi on the 27th November 1940. Flew to Egypt via Nigeria and Sudan with the squadron in December 1940. Carried out 30 operational sorties. Total of 304 flying hours logged.

Son of Gordon Edward (died 1928) and Agnes Isabel Lamb (née Reid - died 1961, later married William Edward Watson), of Auckland, 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:

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
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