Acknowledgement: Syd Reed
F/Lt. Trevor was serving with 540 Sqdn. He was flying RG228 Mosquito PR34 when the engine failed at 28,000 feet. He tried a forced landing but the field was too small and the aircraft went into a river.
The Price of Peace: A catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses between VE Day and End of 1945; Colin Cummings; Nimbus Publishing; 2004; ISBN 0 9526619 5 0
Durham Chronicle 04/01/1946 reports:
Castle Eden Family bereaved
Flt.Lt. Guy Trevor, R.A.F., son of Mr. Arthur Trevor, schoolmaster, Castle Eden, was killed in a flying accident on 18th December. He and his navigator, Flt.Lt. Randles, were detailed for a flight of 3.5 hrs. duration. Their course was to take them into southern France and return without landing. When they reached the French coast on the way out trouble developed in one engine of his Mosquito and Flt.Lt. Trevor decided to turn back for England and land at Ford Aerodrome, Littlehampton. As he neared the coast he told his navigator that he could not make the aerodrome and would have to crash-land in a field on his one engine. The field was rather small and the aircraft hit a bank and ended up in the river. The plane was broken up and the cockpit portion was submerged.
Owing to the strong and fast currents all efforts to raise the fuselage failed. The navigator, suffering from multiple injuries, was rescued from the tail part by naval personnel, and was taken to the Royal West Sussex Hospital, Chichester. the working party were later able to look into the cockpit and discovered that the pilot's body was not there. It has not since been recovered.
Flt. Lt. Trevor had been flying or over five years. For over two years he was a pilot instructor, finally becoming an instructor at a pilot instructor's school. Applying for a transfer he was posted to 540 Squadron Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, with which he was still serving, having operated from bases in England, Scotland, France and Norway. Before joining the R.A.F. he was an architectural pupil at King's College, Newcastle.
A memorial service was held in Castle Eden Church.
Guy Trevor is remembered at Castle Eden on C102.02 and C102.04
