Belton, Spencer Lewis

Title

Belton, Spencer Lewis
Spencer Lewis Belton
Spencer Lewis Smith Belton

Description

34 items. Photographs, correspondence and newspaper clippings concerning Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton (1919 - 1940, 581261 Royal Air Force). Spencer Lewis Belton flew as an observer/ bomb aimer with 144 Squadron from RAF Hemswell. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal after an operation to Wilhelmshaven in July 1940 and was interviewed about it by the British Broadcasting Corporation. He was killed 10/11 August 1940 when his Hampden P4368 crashed in the Netherlands, during an operation to Homberg.

Additional information on Spencer Lewis Belton is available via the IBCC Losses Database.

The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Denise Carr and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.

Date

2015-11-20

Publisher

IBCC Digital Archive

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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.

Identifier

Belton, SLS

Collection Items

Man in suit
Head and shoulders portrait of a man wearing suit and tie. On the reverse ‘I think that this is Uncle Spen not Dad’.

Spencer Lewis Belton
Head and shoulders portrait of Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton in uniform. On the reverse 'S.L.S. Belton D.F.M. 581261 reported missing Aug 10/11th 1940 of age March 5th-1940’ and ‘The Lawrence, 19, High Street, Doncaster’.

Notification of award to Spencer Lewis Belton
Notification of Distinguished Flying Medal to Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton.

Foulness Island war memorial
The memorial honours three fallen of the parish: Spencer Lewis Belton, Raymond William Cook and Frank Hume.

Meteorological training
One man, smoking, is writing on a blackboard with weather patterns chalked on it. A second man is seated in front of him. Two briefcases are visible on desks.

Teacher and 12 students
Group photograph a teacher surrounded by 12 students, six seated and six standing behind. Nine students are are in school blazers, shirts and ties, two are in suits, one in blazer and flannels. Teacher is wearing a gown. Spencer Lewis Belton is back…

Spencer Lewis Belton in school uniform
Head and shoulders portrait of Spencer Lewis Belton in school uniform, shirt and tie, round badge in left lapel. On the reverse ‘Lewis’.

Child in a toy car
Smartly dressed child in formal pose, inside a realistic toy car in front of painted backdrop. '2416' on the ground beside car.

Group in front of a Hampden
Formal group photograph of personnel in front of a Hampden. They are arranged in three rows, some seated some standing. A dog is in the middle: a hangar, a gantry crane and sandbags are visible in the background.

Additional information about this…

Letter to S Belton
Letter from the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood to Mr S Belton requesting attendance for presentation of Distinguished Flying Medal awarded to Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton.

Oil fires R.A.F planes
Details of operations on oil tanks at Rotterdam and on Wilhelmshaven.

Honour for Southend airman
Details of the award of Distinguished Flying Medal to Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton

Hero of 21 RAF raids gets DFC
Distinguished Flying Crosses and Distinguished Flying Medals issued to aircrew, with details on the operations.

From: The People, 4 August 1940, p. 6.

Hail these heroes of Empire. Eleven new awards to men of the R.A.F.
Distinguished Flying Crosses and Distinguished Flying Medals issued to aircrew with details on the operation undertaken.

Pilot gets D.F.C. and gunner D.F.M.
Details of awards of Distinguished Flying Crosses and Distinguished Flying Medals to aircrew.

R.A.F. Heroes. Bombed target with crippled 'plane
Pilot describes the events of the operation, damage to wing, propeller, tail wheel and rudders. Proceeded to target and dropped bomb load.

Father receives son’s D.F.M. King's award to missing airman
S Belton received a Distinguished Flying Medal for his son Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton. He was educated at Southend High School, worked in a bank and on his father’s farm.

Death of Mrs. A. Hallums
Funeral of Mrs A Hallums attended by Mr and Mrs S Belton.

Petition for award
Petition for the award of Distinguished Flying Cross to Pilot Officer William Frank Tudhope and Distinguished Flying Medal to Sergeant Lewis Smith Belton. Provides details about the operation on Wilhelmshaven, damage by anti-aircraft fire, then the…

Congratulation letter to Spencer Lewis Belton
Letter congratulating Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton on the award of his Distinguished Flying Medal.

Boy in blazer, shirt and tie
Head and shoulders portrait of boy in blazer, shirt and tie, round badge in left lapel.

Spencer Lewis Belton as a child
On the first photograph, Spencer Lewis Belton is standing beside a small table. On the reverse ‘Lewis Belton age 1 yr and 5 months'.

On the second photograph he is sitting on a chair looking to the side. On the reverse ‘Spencer Lewis Smith…

Memorandum on the steps taken to trace missing personnel
The memorandum outlines procedures for tracing personnel resulted missing as consequence of active operations. Describes the role of the International Red Cross Committee in Geneva, St. John’s Ambulance and the Casualty branch of Record office.…

Notes for information and guidance of the next-of-kin or other relatives of airmen reported missing, prisoner of war or deceased
The document refers to storage of private effects at central depository, widows pension, orphans pension, address of the ministry of pensions and grants to next-of-kin other than widows.

Bringing a damaged bomber back from Wilhelmshaven
Sergeant Spencer Lewis Belton is interviewed by a wing commander about his aircraft flying over North Sea to bomb Wilhelmshaven. Mentions a British convoy and intense anti-aircraft fire over Emden. Describes the Wilhelmshaven bombing mentioning many…
View all 34 items

Collection Tree

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