Operation: Offensive reconnaissance

Date: 02nd September 1943 (Thursday)

Unit: No. 227 Squadron. 245 Wing. 205 Group

Type: Beaufighter VIC

Serial: JL522

Code: R-Z

Base: Limasol, Cyprus

Location: Aegean Sea off Kos.

Pilot: Fl/Lt. Walter Young McGregor DFC NZ/412789 RNZAF Age 26. Killed (1)

Nav: F/O. Cyril Ernest Turner 112720 RAFVR PoW No: 2930 Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria

REASON FOR LOSS:

Offensive reconnaissance over the Dodecanese Islands taking off with three others at 10:28 hrs.

The only aircraft that failed to return. During the strike the port wing struck the mast of a caique (2) hit the sea and exploded. The navigator survived and tan PoW and later reported that his pilot had been killed by flak immediately before the crash.

(1) The brother of Fl/Lt. McGregor DFC, 27 year old P/O. John Dunlop McGregor NZ/403465 RNZAF missing believed killed on the 29th July 1942. He was the pilot of a Stirling I N6069 with 1651 Heavy Conversion Unit on an operation to Hamburg, all 8 crew were lost without trace. P/O. McGregor had completed a tour with 281 Squadron and had been acting as an instructor with 651 HCU. He had completed 35 operational sorties at the time of his loss.

(2) Caique - traditional fishing boat usually found among the waters of the Ionian or Aegean Sea.

Burial details:

Initially buried on the island of Kos but later reinterred at Rhodes War Cemetery.

Fl/Lt. Walter Young McGregor DFC. Rhodes War Cemetery. Block 51, Plot 22. Born on the 28th November 1916 at Dunedin. Prior to service worked as a carpenter for Residential Construction Company. Enlisted at Levin on the 04th May 1941. Embarked for Canada on the 14th August 1941. Awarded his pilots badge and commissioned on the 21st November 1941. Embarked for West Africa on the 30 July 1942 then by air to Egypt via Nigeria and Sudan on the 11-14th September 1942. Joined 227 squadron on the 19th September 1942. Son of Alexander Chapman McGregor and of Janet Wilson McGregor (nee Dunlop), of Orakei, Auckland, New Zealand. A total of 468 flying hours logged. Completed 46 operational sorties. Credited with 1 enemy aircraft destroyed and 1 other shared.

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, other sources as quoted below:

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