James Frederick Lewthwaite

Flight Sergeant [Pilot]

Conflict:

WW2

Additional Information:

Son of Frederick Arnold Lewthwaite, and of Ellen Mary Lewthwaite (nee Pollard), of Duvauchelle, Canterbury, New Zealand.

References:

CWGC

NZ WAR GRAVES

CONTRIBUTED

Public Contributions:

James (Jim) Lewthwaite grew up on Banks Peninsular in Canterbury New Zealand, where his father Fred was the head engineer for the power board. Jim’s mother Nellie was a Londoner whom Fred had marri...ed at the end of WW1 and Nellie remained in New Zealand for the rest of her life. Jim had one sister Barbara who was four years younger than him. Jim and his family all had a great love of the outdoor life and enjoyed close and loving relationships. Jim was a yachtsman, tramper, mountaineer and tennis player among other things. He was training in Christchurch to become a teacher when he joined the at the beginning of WW2 RAF (NZ did not have its own air force at this early stage of the war). At this time Jim had a fiancée Kate, to whom he was very devoted and who in turn was greatly affected by his death. Jim performed many bombing raids over Europe prior to piloting his crew from England to Malta in a Wellington Bomber on 23rd October, 1941. On this long flight they had to evade a major lightening storm and almost ran out of petrol. Jim developed a deep love and concern for the Maltese people. His diary entries also portray a great sense of unease as the situation around them grew darker with Nazi planes amassing in Sicily and all over Italy. On the night of January 5th, 1942 (just after his 23rd birthday) Jim and his crew were shot down and all died while on a bombing mission over Castelvetrano airfield. The crew who were from New Zealand, Britain and Canada lie forever side by side in the Commonwealth War Grave at Catania. The pictures on Jim’s page show; him as a young child with his sister Barbara, with his fiancée Kate and with his parents Fred and Nellie and Barbara his sister. There are also photos of his niece Sue Marlow visiting his grave from New Zealand in 2007 and his nephew Bruce Elliott visiting from the USA in 2014. Fred and Nellie also visited their son’s grave, in 1960. Barbara’s husband Malcolm and Bruce’s wife Anne also made a visit to the cemetery together in the early 2000s. While it is very sad to have a family member lying so far from his home in New Zealand the care with which the cemetery is maintained is a great comfort to our family. We also appreciate the friendliness of the people we have met in Sicily. Our extended family is very proud of Jim and we will always remember him with warmth, down the generations. Jim left us his wonderful diary and through this even the younger family members feel that they knew him in person. Jim was a person of great courage and also had a wonderful sense of humour. Read More

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Casualty

Service Number:

403463

Name:

James Frederick Lewthwaite

Rank:

Flight Sergeant

Additional Rank:

Pilot

Date of Birth:

Not known

Next of Kin:

Mr F.A. Lewthwaite (father), Duvachelle, Banks Peninsula, New Zealand

Date of Enlistment:

Not known

Armed Force:

Air Force

Unit:

Royal New Zealand Air Force, 40 (RAF) Squadron

Casualty Details

Cause of Death:

Killed on air operations

Date of Death:

05 January 1942

Day of Death:

Monday

Age at Death:

Conflict:

WW2

Embarkation Details

Embarkation Body:

Royal New Zealand Air Force

Text in italics supplied by Cenotaph Online, Auckland War Memorial Museum

Cemetery

Cemetery:

Catania War Cemetery, Sicily

Cemetery Reference:

I. K. 23.

Cemetery Location:

Italy