Letter to Keith Thiele's father from officer commanding 122 Wing

SWeirG19660703v050006.jpg

Title

Letter to Keith Thiele's father from officer commanding 122 Wing

Description

Informs him that his son was missing from operations. He was hit by anti-aircraft fire while attacking a train and it was presumed that he bailed out successfully.

This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.

Date

1945-02-12

Temporal Coverage

Coverage

Language

Format

One page typewritten letter

Rights

This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.

Contributor

Identifier

SWeirG19660703v050006

Transcription

[inserted] answered [/inserted]

122 Wing Headquarters,
Royal Air Force,
c/o BRITISH LIBERATION ARMY.

12th February 1945

REF: 122W/PGJ/DO

Dear Mr. Thiele

By this time you will have heard that your son, Keith, is missing from operations, and I thought you would like to know the circumstances appertaining to the operation from which he did not return.

He was leading his Squadron on an armed reconnaissance over Germany. On the way home he attacked a train near Dousten, and after pulling up from the train a canal was crossed, and his aircraft was immediately hit in the engine by a burst of flak. The aircraft started to pull up, streaming black smoke, and then went into a steep dive.

One of the pilots in his Section, Flight Lieutenant B.C. McKenzie, saw an open parachute going down shortly afterwards, and it is presumed that Keith baled out successfully.

Keith was one of the most outstanding pilots and leaders I have known, and he was extremely well liked and admired by everyone in the whole Wing. His loss is a sad blow not only to me and my Wing, but to the whole of the British Empire for which he fought so gallantly. It will be a great comfort to you to know that there is every chance of him surviving, and I sincerely hope and trust that we shall hear that he is safe as a Prisoner of War.

May I offer you my personal condolences, and the deepest sympathy of all ranks in your extremely anxious suspense.

Yours, sincerely

[signature]
Group Captain,
[underlined] Commanding No. 122 Wing Headquarters. [/underlined]

F.C. Thiele, Esq.,
159 King Street,
[underlined] CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand. [/underlined]

Citation

Group Captain P Jamerson, “Letter to Keith Thiele's father from officer commanding 122 Wing,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 29, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/34482.

Item Relations

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