Base: N/A - Enroute to Sumatra - Far East
Take off time N/A
Op: Enroute to Sumatra - Far East

This crew were part of a contingent of 18, 59 Sqn a/c & crews reassigned to the Far East at the end of 1941 - early 1942. (read more). According to Ian Robinson, who was a navigator with one of these crews, P/O Ayris & crew crashed during a sandstorm, at or near to Alahabad. The a/c was u/s but the crew survived.

Robinson also noted that Sgt Golton joined their crew as a replacement for Sgt P. Barret who had fallen very ill. Hubert Birks (a W/Op of yet another crew) recalls that Barrot was suffering from appendictis and was later repatriated back to the UK. Joining Birks' crew as an extra was Sgt Harry Scarsbrook. He and Birks would later become very close friends.

No casualties:

P/O A.E. Ayris (P)	Sgt Scarsbrook (Obs)	Sgt Golton (AG)	Sgt Oakden (AG)

During WWII, the RAF used three-letter codes to identify their aircraft from a distance. Two large letters were painted before the roundel, which signified the squadron to which the aircraft belonged, and another letter was painted after the roundel which indicated the individual aircraft. Aditionally, there was the individual serial number for each aircraft, which was painted in a much smaller size, usually somewhere at the rear of the aircraft: (more)

Codes used by RAF 59 Squadron:

PJ Sep 1938 - Sep 1939
TR Sep 1939 - Oct 1942
1 Aug 1943 - Jul 1944
WE Jul 1944 - Oct 1945
BY Oct 1945 - Jun 1946, Dec 1947 - Oct 1950