Stuartson older brother John had joined the
Australian Army and was with 2/23 Infantry
Battalion when hewas killed on 22 July 1942
in Lybia, North Africa.
On 23 January 1943, P/O Methven and his crew boarded
Lancaster W4308 UV-C for a mission against
Dusseldorf.
P/O Methven's crew consisted of:
Sqn Ldr
Osborn, R B DSO, DFC, (Pilot)
FO S U C Longworth, (Navigator)
Sgt J V Conlon, (Bomb Aimer)
Sgt P A Martin, (Wireless Operator Air
Gunner)
PO S C Methven, (Air Gunner)
Sgt R A Brown, (Air Gunner)
All were
from the RAAF, except the pilot S/L
Osborn, who was RAF.
This was to be P/O Methven's 14th
operation.
They took off from their base at
Binbrook at 17.14 on 23 January 1943.
They reached the target and bomded it.
S/L Osborn later reported that on the
way back they were attacked by a night
fighter. They were just over the Dutch
coast when the attack happened. The Bf
110 was flown by
Oblt
Wolfgang Kuthe, of 1V./NJG1.
Wounded by cannon fire, S/L Osborn
decided to crash land the plane. At
20.54, the plane crash lands near Warns.
P/O Methven died in the plane. Sgt Brown
was badly injured in his leg. Sgt Colon
decided to bail out, but he probably
drowned in the sea and his parachute
failed to open.
Sgt Colon and P/O Methven were the only
ones to die. S/L Osborn spent three
months in a Leeuwarden hospital and then
some time in PoW camps 9C andL3,as PoW
No.19634. On 16 September 1944 he was
repatriated to England.
Sgt I.H.S.Hayes was interned in Camps 8B
and 344, PoW No.27379. F/O
H.E.L.Longworth in Camps 21B and L3, PoW
No.117. Sgt P.H.Martin in Camps 8B and
344. He was commissioned during
captivity and transferred to Camp L3,
PoW No.27381.
P/O Stuartson Methven is buried at
Bakhuizen Roman Catholic Cemetery, Row
24. Grave 11.
"R.I.P."