LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Arnold James Birrell HUMPHRIES
Service No: 407351
Born: Parkside SA, 20 June 1910
Enlisted in the RAAF: 14 September 1940
Unit: No. 14 Squadron (RAF), operating from Landing Ground 116, Egypt
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 14 Squadron Blenheim aircraft Z7991), Egypt, 17 March 1942, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Tobruk War Cemetery, Libya
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Birrell Humphries and Hannah Humphries; husband of Shirley Emma Humphries, of Glenelg, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Glenelg SA
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Blenheim T2124 took off from the landing ground at Bir-El-Beheira on 17 March 1942 on a daytime operational flight. The aircraft crashed after colliding with Blenheim Z7991 and T2124 crashed and burst into flames. It was thought that the attention of the pilot of T2124 was focused on the leader of the formation to whom he was endeavouring to draw near, and that he failed to observe the other aircraft which was circuiting the landing ground with its undercarriage half retracted. The crew members of both aircraft were killed.
The crew members of Z7991 were:
Sergeant Arnold James Birrell Humphries (407351) (Observer)
Sergeant Richard George Sheridan Linley (1162048) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Thomas Giles Smail (400184) (Wireless Air Gunner)
The crew members of T2124 were:
Sergeant William Bernard Turley Godly (400175) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Robert James Good (407073) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Stanley Windmill (926510) (RAF) (Observer)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia on-Line Record A705, 63/124/122
Bibliography:
Napier, Michael Winged Crusaders: the exploits of 14 Squadron RFC & RAF 1915-1945, Pen & Sword Books, Barnsley UK, 2012