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Re: Beaufighter serial numbers
Date of 12 March for the 16 SAAF loss confirmed in the book "Eagles victorious: The operations of the South African forces over the Mediterranean and Europe, in Italy, the Balkans and the Aegean, and from Gibraltar and West Africa", by Henry James Martin and Neil D. Orpen. ISBN: 0868430080
Citation of the book, pages 181-182 (the squadron is 16 Sqn SAAF):
"On 11 March all available aircraft — ten Beaufighters altogether — were ordered to Gambut for a special operation. At 1.40 pm next day Maj A. Bell led three of them through the Kasos Straits between Crete and Scarpanto, then past the islands of Thira and Milos and over Monemvasia, in a wide circle which swept the southern Aegean. They were near Kimolos (Kamila) Island when Capt R. J. Clements saw splashes in the water ahead of him and deduced that they were caused by long-range 20 mm fire from an enemy aircraft. Almost at the same time Maj A. Bell reported engine trouble and turned north-east, apparently heading for the Turkish coast.
Ten minutes later, Bell’s aircraft hit the water, a wing broke up and it burst into flame. Lt ‘Shorty’ Stead, the observer, was seen in a dinghy and Maj Bell was seen doing backstroke towards it. The surviving Beaufighters flew back to base via Antikithera, between Crete and Greece."
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