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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.
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185 Crest

Operation: Scramble

Date: 02nd August 1942 (Sunday)

Unit: No. 185 Squadron (motto: Ara fejn hu - Look where it is)

Type: Spitfire Vc

Serial: BR321

Code: GL-?

Base: Hal Far, Malta

Location: Mediterranean Sea, off Gozo,

Pilot: Sgt. Matthew Leonard McLeod NZ/411916 RNZAF Age 21. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Arrived in Malta just a couple of weeks previously on the 15th July 1942 flying a Spitfire off HMS Eagle.

Scrambled at 14:00 hrs to intercept an enemy raid. 7 others joined him. Shot down over Gozo and dived into the sea, his body was never knowingly recovered.

22 year old, P/O. James William Guthrie 120153 RAFVR was also shot down flying Spitfire Vc BR362 and killed.

Burial details:

Sgt. Matthew Leonard McLeod. Malta Memorial. Panel 5, Column 2.Born 13th November 1921 at Wellington. Farm hand prior to service on 23rd March 1941. Son of Matthew Alexander McLeod, and of Nilsina Catherine Christina McLeod (née Jacobsen), of Island Bay, Wellington, New Zealand. A total of 289 flying hours logged and completed 24 operational sorties. 14 of these were with 485 squadron.

P/O. James William Guthrie. Malta Naval Cemetery (Capuccini). Prot. Sec. (Officers'). Plot E. Coll. grave 2. Son of James Guthrie, and of Elizabeth Maud Guthrie, of Thornton Heath, Surrey, 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 08-01-2021

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Acknowledgements
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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 Captain 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', Andrew Mielnik: Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Polish graves: https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/, PoW Museum Żagań, 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.
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