Flying Officer (Navigator) J Weddell (Service Nº 170390) of 161 (Special Duties) Sqn was killed in Lockheed Hudson III T9463 MA-L on November 27th 1944. It was lost on return from a mission to drop an agent near Armstadt, and crashed near Houffalize, Belgium. He is buried in Brussels Town Cemetery.
It has been speculated that the Hudson was shot down by so-called ‘friendly fire’ - in this case an American P-61A Black Widow night fighter of the 422nd Night Fighter Squadron, which claimed a Messerschmitt Me-110 near the same area and time that the Hudson crashed – both the Hudson and Me-110 have twin tails.
161 Sqn performed clandestine missions for the S.O.E (Special Operations Executive), primarily dropping and collecting secret agents from occupied Europe.
Acknowledgments: Simon Glancey
He is remembered at Alnwick on A11.01, A11.17 and A11.53
John Weddell
The aircrash
Was this a friendly fire incident?
The CWGC entry on Flying Officer Weddell