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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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RAF Crest
30.09.1941 No. 1 P.R.U. Spitfire PR.VI R7043 F/O. Swift DFC

Operation: Recce

Date: 30th September 1941 (Tuesday)

Unit: No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (16 Group)

Type: Spitfire PR.IV

Serial: R7043

Code: Not known

Base: RAF Benson, Oxfordshire

Location: North Sea

Pilot: F/O. James Frederick Swift DFC. 41080 RAF Age 24. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

During a Photographic Reconnaissance flight to Kiel when he disappeared without trace.

His body was later washed at Wilhelmshaven and buried locally. After the end of the war he was reinterred at CWGC cemetery described below.

The pilot had already served a full operational tour as a bomber pilot on Wellingtons and then converted to fighters.

Information courtesy Errol Martyn - see credits.

Burial details:

F/O. James Frederick SwiftBorn DFC. Sage War Cemetery. Grave 13.D.3. Born on the 19th June 1917 at Invercargill, Scotland, the son of George Lionel Swift and of Caroline Swift (née Hooper), of Invercargill, Southland, New Zealand. A total of 986 flying hours logged and having completed 45 operational sorties.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to the research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Weekly News of New Zealand, Grave photograph curtesy H.H, other sources as quoted below:

KTY 22.05.2019

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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 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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