Unsung Hero
Flying Spitfires with 611 Squadron, Flight Sergeant John Curtis ‘Bev’ Bevan lost his life on 9 November 1943, shot down by flak on a Rhubarb operation over northern France. Like many, he was a competent and conscientious pilot, determined to do his duty for his family, friends and country. His story of ultimate sacrifice is typical of the thousands of aircrew that perished during the Second World War.
Bevan was born on 30 October 1922 in Merthyr-Tydfil, Wales, the only son of Edward Arthur and Comfort Curtis Bevan. Edward was a veteran of the Welsh Regiment and the family lived in Victoria Street in a three story house, the ground floor being Messrs Oliver’s shoe shop which Bevan’s father managed.
Bevan’s cousin and best friend was Dennis Wellings who lived in the village of Bassaleg near Newport. He would often go and stay with Bevan in the school holidays and both men served with the RAF during the war, Dennis flying B-24 Liberators. He later said of his cousin, ‘John was nine months older than me and a real dare-devil. He would tie balloons and old light bulbs to the trees and take pot shots at them from the bedroom window with his air rifle, much to the annoyance of neighbour Dr Wade’s gardener, who complained about the several near misses.’
Bevan was taught at the Merthyr Intermediate School where he gained his Central Welsh Board school certificate before going to the Dowlais-Cardiff Steelworks to start an engineering career while studying for an engineering degree at the nearby Cardiff Technical College. By now Bevan had also shown talent as an artist and was a keen fly-fisherman but the war was now to interrupt, and ultimately take, his young life.
Bevan (back row, 2nd from left) pursuing the Welsh national sport at the Merthyr Intermediate School before the war clouds had broken.
With his 18th birthday and inevitable call up fast approaching, Bevan took the imitative and volunteered for the RAF. Three months later, the five feet, seven inch tall Welsh lad, with his thick wave of brown hair and matching brown eyes, found himself standing before No 12 Aviation Candidates Selection Board in Oxford on a chilly February morning in 1941. Here he undertook two days of selection tests and examinations before facing an interview board. Accepted for pilot training, Bevan was immediately transferred to the reserves and instructed to return home until called up for training.
Four months would pass before Bevan was instructed to report to No 1 Receiving Wing in Paignton, Devon. Here he spent a week receiving all his kit and vaccinations before moving to No 7 Initial Training Wing which was based in the Coniston Hotel in Newquay, Cornwall, where Bevan began his induction into service life.
Bevan then received the news that his flight training would be undertaken in Rhodesia as part of the Rhodesian Air Training Group. This was a huge adventure, starting with a lengthy sea journey by troopship to the South African port of Durban. Here, the would be pilots saw lights blazing at night and experienced glorious, un-rationed food and heat, all in sharp contrast to the conditions back at home. Processed through Cape Town, the cadets boarded dedicated trains that took them into Rhodesia through Bulawayo and then onto the Initial Training Wing at Cranborne, Bevan arriving there in early October 1941.
Posted to No 26 Elementary Flight Training School at Guinea Fowl in December, Bevan received instruction on the de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth. In the space of three months, he flew just under 30 hours of dual instruction and 39 hours solo. Passing this successfully, Bevan then moved onto No 22 Service Flight Training School at Thornhill and onto the North American Harvard. Over a period of six months, he amassed a further 201 flying hours. An important milestone was met on 9 August when he was awarded his coveted wings.
de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moths of the Rhodesian Air Training Group practising formation flying over a vast landscape.
Bevan (back row, 3rd from left) with other trainee pilots while learning elementary and advanced flying skills with the Rhodesian Air Training Group. The experience of travelling to Rhodesia would have been an adventure in itself and a stark contrast to the wartime conditions on the Home Front in Wales.
Bevan successfully completed the course in September 1942 and returned to Durban to board the 20,000 ton troopship SS Oronsay. Considered fast enough to sail alone, the Oransay set off for Liverpool, although with Axis forces still threatening the Mediterranean, the ship was forced to take the longer transit around the Cape of Good Hope. It was when the Oronsay was 500 miles west of Freetown that disaster struck. The Archimede, an Italian long-range U-boat, was shadowing the vessel and at 5.30am on 9 October, the Oransay was torpedoed. Over the next three and a half hours, three more torpedoes were fired sending the Oransay to the bottom.
Most of the passengers and crew were able to scramble into the ship’s lifeboats. However, the first torpedo had broken the ship’s aerial and no distress signal was sent. This delayed the search for survivors and for Bevan and the other passengers and crew, spread across two launches and 11 lifeboats, a 12 day ordeal of intense heat, chilling rain and near starvation awaited them before the majority were picked up by the destroyer HMS Brilliant and landed at Freetown on 20 October. Bevan then had to board another ship to finish his journey to Liverpool, being granted a week’s survivors leave upon his arrival.
On 20 November, Bevan was assigned to No 7 Personnel Reception Centre based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, where he would spend the next two and a half months waiting for a posting to a UK flying unit. At Christmas, Bevan was granted a rare spell of leave and he returned home. As luck would have it, his cousin Dennis was also granted leave and he later described the experience, ‘What a joy and great good fortune to get Christmas leave at the end of 1942! An added bonus was that local close friend Terry Richards and John Bev also had Christmas leave. It was the only time that we three met together during the war. It was bitterly cold and I well recall a clear moonlit Boxing night. Thick ice covered the road, as salt was unavailable, and we made a long slide from the Tredegar Arms pub down the steep hill to Bassaleg river bridge. We were joined by lots of other revellers until well after midnight. We exchanged experiences but tragically I was never to see Bev or Terry again.’
Another family member overjoyed to see Bevan was his young nephew Michael who was eight years old at the time, ‘They were my heroes. They brought me aircraft-recognition books which I studied. Cousin Bev always had several sixpences in his pocket with which he would reward me on my successful recognition of any aircraft that would be seen flying in our area. This enabled me to be the youngest authority on aircraft identification in the village.’
Now promoted to Sergeant, Bevan returned to Harrogate, waiting until 9 February 1943 when he was finally posted to No 7 (Pilot’s) Advanced Flying Unit at Peterborough for his advanced flying training. After all the waiting, Bevan was thrown into an intense five weeks of instruction primarily on the Miles Master Mk.I and Mk.II. On 20 March, Bevan graduated from the course with an average pilot rating, having logged another 79 hours in the cockpit.
Bevan’s next stop was No 52 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at Aston Down, Gloucestershire, where he joined course number 29 on X Squadron where he would learn to fly and fight in the Spitfire. On 26 March Bevan made his first flight in a Miles Master Mk.III for some circuits and landings, proving his competence to his instructor and also preparing him for his next big step.
A 52 OTU Spitfire at Aston Down. Of interest is the fairing over of the gun ports for all but the inboard 0.303 inch Browning machine guns. Although the unit used both MkI and MkII Spitfires, all Bevan’s air to air firing sorties were flown on MkIIs.
This came on 27 March when Bevan stepped up to Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I P9544 and took R J Mitchell’s thoroughbred into the sky for the first time. Flights in various Spitfire Mk.I and Mk.IIs followed covering the use of radio homing, formation flying, cloud flying and a height test to 32,000 feet, alongside live firing at a drogue, cine gun firing and dusk sorties culminating in Bevan moving to A Squadron within the OTU on 28 April with 11 hours and 40 minutes logged on Spitfires.
Further live and cine gun air to air firing practise was undertaken with Bevan being assessed as above average and average respectively for these. The training intensified further with a series of formation, cross country, low flying, night flying and aerobatic sorties. Rhubarb practise, section attacks, bomber affiliation, squadron formation and section height climbs followed, Bevan touching down in Spitfire Mk.I ‘4617’ on May 30 at the end of his last flight as a trainee. Bevan was 30 minutes shy of 400 flight hours amassed over 17 months and, with an above average rating on the Spitfire, he was now ready to join an operational squadron.
A 52 OTU Spitfire at Aston Down. The unit used both MkI and MkII Spitfires for training, Bevan completing the course in just over two months.
Bevan’s posting was to No 611 (West Lancashire) Auxiliary Squadron based at 11 Group’s premier fighter station, RAF Biggin Hill. Not only that, the squadron was equipped with one of the latest and most potent versions of the Spitfire, the LF.IX, with its two-stage, two-speed supercharged Merlin 66 engine. The squadron was led by Sqn Ldr E.F.J. ‘Jack’ Charles DFC who, just a month previously, had shared in the station’s 1,000th victory.
611 Squadron was commanded by Sqn Ldr E.F.J. ‘Jack’ Charles DFC (centre). A month prior to Bevan’s posting, Charles had shared in Biggin Hill’s 1,000th victory alongside 341 Squadron CO Commandant Rene Mouchotte, the event being widely celebrated at the station. Credit Aldon Ferguson
Assigned to B Flight, and now given the rank of Flight Sergeant, Bevan settled in. His first flight was a local sortie in Spitfire Mk.Vb W3528 on 10 June. The next day he was unleashed in Spitfire LF.IX EN559 before finding himself on the flight roster for his first operation. It was the afternoon of 15 June when Bevan climbed into Spitfire LF.IX EN555 for Rodeo 230, a fighter sweep, and at 2.47pm 12 Spitfires began lifting off from Biggin Hill. However, the already poor weather worsened and the squadron was recalled, landing back less than 30 minutes after take-off. One can only imagine the mixture of emotions that Bevan must have felt at that moment!
Bevan’s first posting was to 611 Squadron at Biggin Hill. At the time, the squadron was equipped with the Spitfire LF.IX and the wing was led by Wing Commander Al Deere DFC and Bar. His personal mount, Spitfire LF.IX EN568, coded AL, is seen here in a typical revetment at Biggin Hill. The Wing Commander pennant is just visible under the cockpit.
Alongside formation practise, search light exercises, practise scrambles and a trip to see the end of the Derby at Newmarket in the squadron Tiger Moth, Bevan flew three more operations in June, an Air Sea Rescue (ASR) scramble and two bomber escorts. The second escort on 24 June, was Ramrod 106, the squadron acting as high cover for Lockheed Venturas bombing Yainville power station near Rouen. This time, Bevan saw his first Luftwaffe fighters when Focke Wulf Fw190As of JG2 were sighted 5,000 feet above them. However, they did not attack and it was the Kenley Wing that saw action, claiming two shot down for no loss.
Bevan (2nd from left) and squadron mates out socializing near Biggin Hill.
The squadron then found itself posted to Matlaske in Norfolk, ostensibly for a rest period with 12 Group. At the same time, it gave up its cherished Spitfire LF.IXs and inherited No 315 Squadron’s well worn Mk.Vs which were soon brought up to an acceptable standard. After the squadron’s first operation with their new mounts, a sector reconnaissance where two III/JG54 Messerschmitt Bf109Gs were claimed damaged, the squadron diarist noted, ‘This...proved that our aircraft, whilst being very much slower than the Hun, were far more manoeuvrable.’
Further improvements came in the middle of the month when the unit’s Spitfires were sent to 3501 Servicing Unit at Cranfield for conversion to low level LF.V standard. Modifications including clipped wings for an improved rate of roll and the fitting of a Merlin 45M engine with a cropped blower giving a top speed of 357mph at 6,000 feet. Commenting on the squadron’s reworked mounts, Sqn Ldr Charles said that, ‘The Spitfire Vc LF, LR I found to be better (speed and turning) than both the Fw190 and the Bf109 up to 10,000ft; 10-12,000ft they are about equal, and above that the Hun machines are faster.’
On 25 July, the squadron blooded its LF.Vs in combat as the Coltishall Wing participated in Ramrod 154 acting as target withdrawal support for twelve No 180 Squadron B-25 Mitchells attacking the Fokker factory in Amsterdam. For Bevan, this mission would also see him fire his guns in anger for the first time as the squadron tangled with four Fw190s and fourteen Bf109Gs, the latter from III/JG54, over the target area. For the next thirteen minutes, the Spitfires became embroiled in a hectic free for all in which they claimed two destroyed and three damaged. Describing the chaotic nature of his first action in his log book, Bevan noted, ‘I lost the CO, blacked out. Had a squirt at a Me109. S/Ldr Charles baled out over the sea after chasing 1 Me109 down. He was rescued 5 hours later by 611. Good show!’
Bevan with a Spitfire MkV as he would have flown with 611 Squadron from 1 July 1943 although, unfortunately, the squadron code letters on this machine do not appear to match 611’s FY codes. It is believed that the picture was taken at Biggin Hill in September 1943. While 611 was based at Coltishall at the time, there is a two week gap in Bevan’s logbook where he possibly spent some time away from the squadron.
Two days later the Luftwaffe was met again as Fl Lt Colloredo-Mansfield led the squadron on Ramrod 20, an escort to twelve B-25 Mitchells bombing Schipol aerodrome. This was Bevan’s second flight in Spitfire LF.Vb W3234, a presentation Spitfire named Borough of Barry after the town South West of Cardiff. Soon after crossing the Dutch coast thirty to forty Bf109s of III/JG54 were seen and the escorts immediately peeled off to engage. A general melee developed, Bevan later noting, ‘Squadron engaged 20 Me109s. Unable to get a squirt but Colly got 1 probable and 1 damaged. My R/T packed in. L’Abee got badly shot up but got back O.K.’
As the squadron moved first to Ludham and then Coltishall, more ramrods followed. One notable mission came on 16 August as 8th Air Force heavy and medium bombers hit airfields in northern France in a vain attempt to weaken the Luftwaffe’s fighter defences prior to the ill-fated Schweinfurt and Regensburg deep penetration missions that were to follow the next day. Forward deploying to Westhampnett aerodrome, West Sussex, 611 Squadron was tasked as escort to thirty-six B-26 Marauders of the 387th Bomb Group attacking Bernay St Martin airfield. The squadron was led by Wg Cmdr Lucas with Bevan flying on the wing of Capt Austeen in Mk.VB BL472 as White 2, this Spitfire being the one he would use the most on operations.
All was uneventful until the bombers swung off the target. Without warning, the squadron was bounced by a force of around sixteen Fw190s. Wg Cmdr Lucas called the break and led his section in a tight defensive circle to the left, groups of Fw190s coming in from all sides trying to box them in. As the Spitfires continued turning, Flg Off ‘Hoppy’ Hodgkinson broke away and dived on two Fw190s that were 1,500 feet below them, scoring fatal hits on the trailing Focke Wulf. However, both Hodgkinson and his wingman, Flt Sgt King, then found themselves under attack and were lucky to rejoin the formation without damage.
As Lucas and Black Section broke left, Captain Austeen, Bevan, and the remaining 611 Squadron Spitfires went right as five Fw190s came at them head-on. Levelling out to attack, Austeen was forced back into a defensive turn as more Fw190s latched onto his tail. After one turn Austeen found himself gaining on the trailing Fw190 which was slightly below him. Closing to 600 yards he fired three bursts of cannon and machine-gun fire seeing strikes on the fuselage. Following him, Bevan saw his chance and fought to get his sights onto the Luftwaffe machine. At 700 yards he saw it was now or never and depressed the gun button, sending cannon and machine gun fire raking towards the Fw190 but didn’t see any hits. The Focke Wulf then bunted down into a dive trailing white smoke. Austeen and Bevan tried to follow but as they passed through 6,000 feet, they were attacked by further Fw190s, and were forced into a steep climbing turn which they held until they had reached 13,000 feet. Shortly afterwards, the Focke Wulfs disengaged and the squadron returned to Westhampnett. Bevan later described the action; ‘King had a narrow escape. I squirted at 190 but saw no strikes. About 30 Fw190s engaged. Good Bombing!!’
Returning to base after refuelling from an operation the next day, Bethan experienced a non-operational flying hazard when a sudden impact smashed his cockpit canopy. He recorded the event in his logbook, noting, ‘On return, hit a seagull, took half my hood away (1 seagull confirmed!!)’
Bevan next met the enemy on 23 August when Sqn Ldr P. B. G. Davies DFC, who had just taken over from Sqn Ldr Charles, led eight Spitfires on a Distill anti-minesweeper patrol along the Dutch coast. Bevan was flying Spitfire LF.Vb AB170 in Capt Austeen’s section. Sighting an anchored convoy of minesweepers and armed trawlers, Davies immediately dived to attack. The Spitfires were met by a barrage of intense light flak and Davies was hit. Clawing for height, he was seen to bale out. Trailing the rest of the lead section, Plt Off Jens Henning ‘Jock’ Gielstrup in Spitfire IIA Indian Telegraph II was also hit. The port wing of his Spitfire clipped the sea and both Spitfire and pilot disappeared in a shower of spray.
Leading blue section, Capt Austeen attacked the end vessel of the line and then the survivors formed up and returned to base. Bevan’s brief note in his logbook could only hint at the rough mission he had just gone through, ‘Engaged shipping in Den Helder harbour. Terrific flak, we lost S/Ldr Davies and F/O Gielstrup!! Poor show.’ Unknown to the squadron at the time, Davies had been picked up and was later confirmed as a PoW.
On 26 August, Sqn Ldr W.A. Douglas, DFC arrived to take command and the squadron was taken off operations for five days before resuming their round of escorts and shipping patrols. On 14 September, Bevan was airborne in Spitfire LF.Vb W3234 Borough of Barry on a Jim Crow shipping reconnaissance but 15 minutes after taking off, W3234’s Merlin engine lost oil pressure and Bevan only just managed to get back to base, the engine seizing up as he landed.
It was around this time that the press made a story of 611 Squadron’s Welsh connection, featuring a picture of Bevan in front of the Borough of Barry shaking hands with Sqn Ldr P.B.G. Davies, who was from Abergavenny, and the adjutant, Flying Officer E.G. Powell from Newport. The report stated that Bevan had just returned from a successful shipping reconnaissance off the Dutch coast and also credited W3234 with one Fw190 destroyed and one Bf109 damaged. By the time the story was published in mid-September however, Davies had already been lost.
Bevan in front of Spitfire LF.Vb W3234 Borough of Barry at Coltishall in August 1943 shaking hands with Sqn Ldr P. B. G. Davies DFC while squadron adjutant Flg Off E.G. Powell looks on, Bevan ostensibly having just returned from a mission. The picture was taken for a local press story as all three men were from Wales. Davies was posted to take over the squadron on 12 August and was shot down 11 days later to become a PoW, this not being mentioned when the story was published in mid-September!
17 September was made up of non-operational flying, Bevan taking Miles Martinet Mk.I HB527 to Hucknall before boarding Percival Proctor P6127 for the return flight. He must have felt jinxed after another narrow escape noting, ‘Nearly pranged. Engine cut out on take off. Had never flown one before…’ Fortunately, no damage was done and Bevan completed his return to Coltishall in a Tiger Moth.
On 25 September, Bevan was back in the cockpit of the re-engined Borough of Barry for a shipping strike escort against a large convoy of two merchant ships with 11 escorts. Bevan described the attack in his logbook, his finishing comment, a reference to feeling both fear and excitement, hinting at the strain he was feeling after nearly four months of continuous combat. ‘Escorted 24 Beaux, pranging 2 M/Vs and 11 E/Vs off Den Helder. Flak heavy and accurate. 2 Beaux lost but shipping very badly pranged. Ring twitch.’
611 Squadron Spitfire LF.Vc AR513 after a brush with Bf109s on 16 September 1943 during an escort mission to Beaufighters attacking a convoy of minesweepers off the Dutch coast. Bevan was flying the mission as part of Captain Austeen’s White Section, the four pilots chasing two Bf109s (identified as Es) away from the Beaufighters. Austeen fired at one of them and was later credited with its destruction. AR513 was being flown by Flt Sgt Warr, a cannon shell blowing an 18 inch hole in the fuselage just behind the R/T equipment, the Spitfire being classed Category B upon its return. Bevan noted in his log book that Warr was ‘lucky!!’ Credit Aldon Ferguson
Bevan’s next few missions were mainly bomber escorts, for example on October 8 when he noted, ‘Escorted 72 Marauders to Chievres, long way beyond Lille. Our deepest penetration into France yet. No flak & no E/A!!’ Weather continued to hamper operations, although shipping strikes and bomber escorts were attempted. Bevan’s last flight in October was a formation practice on the 26th. This was the last record Bevan would write himself in his log book.
At the end of October, Bevan was granted a 48 hour pass and made the journey west to spend his 21st birthday at home. All too soon, his brief respite was over and he returned to Coltishall. It was now November and various ground activities kept the pilots occupied while they waited for a break in the weather. Operations were flown on the 3rd and 5th before the weather clamped down again. This cleared enough on the 8th for some non-operational flying and Bevan was airborne for an hour in Spitfire Mk.Vb AB170 for cine gun exercises and low flying practice.
Spitfire LF.Vb AR373 was assigned to 611 Squadron on the day Bevan was shot down. It is seen here after a belly landing, most likely at Deanland Advanced Landing Ground in Sussex which the squadron moved to at the end of April 1944. The photo was originally captioned ‘First Invasion Casualty June 1944’ although no record can be found of an incident in the squadron ORB. As there are no D-Day stripes painted on the aircraft it is possible the incident occurred in the few days prior to the invasion. AR373 stayed with the squadron until the end of July when it was assigned to 61 OTU. Credit Peter Arnold Collection
The next day dawned dull and wet but the conditions were deemed acceptable for a Rhubarb operation targeting road and rail traffic across the channel and volunteers were called for. Leading the mission would be Flg Off Colin G.S. ‘Hoppy’ Hodgkinson, another pilot who, like Douglas Bader, had lost both legs in a pre-war crash and fought his way to operational flying. Hodgkinson, who had just returned to the squadron after attending the Fighter Leaders School, chose Sgt John V.P. Daly as his number two. For the second section he chose Bevan as leader with Sgt G.S. ‘Willy’ Wilson from Trinidad as number four.
It was late morning when Bevan climbed onto the wing of LF.Vc EE732 and strapped himself into a Spitfire for the last time in his life. Shortly afterwards four Merlins cranked into life and at 11.30am they took off, stopping to refuel at Bradwell Bay before lifting off again at 12.35pm. Soon the flat Essex coastline disappeared beneath their wings to be replaced by the grey expanse of the North Sea. Above them, an almost solid overcast of cloud at 1,800 feet masked them from Luftwaffe fighters.
With course set, the four grey-green Spitfires headed towards Belgium. Soon a smear of colour quickly became coastline and they thundered over the dunes and houses of Oost Duinkerke. For the next twenty five minutes, the Spitfires carved a trail of destruction along canals and railways attacking barges and trains before they found themselves near Bethune. Here they saw another train but this time they could also see the menacing barrels of several flak positions. Still deciding to attack, Hodgkinson radioed Bevan and Wilson to take out the visible flak while he and Daly would take out the engine. Each pilot was to break left after their attack to reform.
With little time to think the pilots dived down towards their target. In EE732, Bevan lined up the train in his sights and depressed the gun button on his control column sending streams of shells hurtling downwards. It was now that events took a turn for the worse. 40mm Bofors and cannon fire filled the sky with tracer, flak sites in the surrounding area joining the fusillade. Bevan felt EE732 shudder as it took numerous hits. A thick trail of smoke appeared behind the aircraft as the Spitfire caught fire. Instinctively, Bevan pulled back on the stick, converting what was left of the Spitfire’s forward speed into height. He then unplugged his radio, oxygen mask and harness, jettisoned the canopy and baled out.
As the last Spitfire to attack, Wilson saw Bevan’s machine take hits. Jinking violently Wilson pulled off the target just as he saw a second Spitfire, Daly’s AR509, smoking heavily as the pilot fought for altitude. Checking back on Bevan, he saw him bale out. As Bevan fell away from his Spitfire, Wilson circled around, watching as the Spitfire plummeted into a wood, flak bursts still following his own machine. Seeing Bevan land successfully, Wilson pushed his throttle forward and set course north-westwards towards the coast, hot on the trail of Hodgkinson who was already racing for home.
Proof of the intensity of the barrage can be shown by the fact that six flak units claimed hits on the two Spitfires. The first crashed near Clairmarais, claimed by 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 Batterie, Flak Regt 64 and 4 Batterie leichte Flak Abteillung 716, this most likely being Daly’s AR509. The second, likely Bevan’s Spitfire EE732, crashed near Helfaut and was claimed by 8, 9 and 10 Batterie Flak Regt 64.
Daly was captured and eventually ended up in PoW Camp L3. For Bevan the story was not so happy. As Sgt Wilson had seen him bale out he was initially posted as missing. Distraught, Bevan’s mother went to stay with her sister in Bassaleg where Wilson visited shortly afterwards to describe what had happened and offer hope that Bevan was still alive. With no news forthcoming for several weeks, there was hope that Bevan had managed to evade capture, but then confirmation came through that he had in fact died on the day he was shot down, although it was never stated exactly how. What is likely is that Bevan was taken to the Luftwaffe hospital in St Omer before being buried at the Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery at St Omer where he remains at rest today.
Trinidad born Sgt G.S. ‘Willy’ Wilson who was flying as Bevan’s wingman on the day Bevan was shot down. Wilson had seen Bevan land successfully and later went to visit Bevan’s mother Comfort in Bassaleg to give her as much news as he could about her missing son. Credit Aldon Ferguson
An extract from Bevan’s log book showing his operations in July including on the 25th when he fired his guns in anger for the first time. On the same mission Sqn Ldr Charles was forced to bale out into the sea after his Spitfire was damaged by debris from the fighter he had just shot down. He was rescued later that day.
Bevan’s logbook carries this final tribute:
The pain has stopped,
For I am dead.
My time on Earth is done.
But in a hundred years from now,
I’ll still be twenty-one.
My brief sweet life is over,
My eyes no longer see,
No summer walks,
No Christmas trees,
No pretty girls for me.
My Spitfire’s crashed, I’ve had it,
My daily ops are done.
Yet in a hundred years,
I’ll still be twenty-one.
Nephew Julian Wellings visiting Bevan’s grave at the Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery at St Omer.
John Curtis Bevan's headstone at the Longuenesse Sounvenir Cemetary. Credit Joe Taylor
Aviationphoto would like to thank Julian and Mike Wellings for their kind assistance with this article. All photos Julian Wellings unless noted.
Spitfire W3234 Borough of Barry
On 23 August 1940, the residents of the town of Barry met in the Memorial Hall and pledged to raise the £5,000 needed to ‘buy’ a Spitfire for the RAF. This was achieved in June 1943 when a cheque for £5,112 was forwarded to the Ministry of Aircraft Production. Spitfire MkVb W3234 was duly assigned to 611 Squadron with the name ‘Borough of Barry’ painted on the left side of the nose. W3234 had actually already been ‘around the block’ several times after its birth in June 1941 having served with 92, 123, 167 and 165 Squadrons up to August 1942 when a flying accident sent it to Scottish Aviation Ltd for repairs. The Spitfire then went back to Vickers Supermarine for fuel system modifications, wing stiffening and the fitting of a target tow hook before being issued briefly to 315 Squadron at the beginning of July 1943 and then onwards to 611 Squadron on July 11. According to Bevan’s log book he flew W3234 on only seven occasions, his more usual mount being LF.Vb BL472. W3234 remained with 611 until another flying accident at the beginning of October saw it sent to Air Service Training for repair. W3234 was then allocated to 64, 65 and 278 Squadrons before being struck off charge on September 27, 1945.