Flight Lieutenant Alan Gordon Howard LINDSELL (42616)
181 Squadron Royal Air Force

Date of birth: 4th April 1920
Date of death: 27th September 1942

Killed on active service aged 22
Buried at the Church of St Mary and St Andrew, Wittlesford
He was born in Kano Nigeria on the 4th of April 1920, the eldest son of Howard Offley Lindsell, HM Resident at Kano, Nigeria, and Olive (nee Screen), of "Mancetter", Cransworth Avenue, Southsea, later of Blean in Kent.

He was educated at King's Leigh, Tankerton, and at the King's School Canterbury from May 1935 to July 1937, where he was a dayboy and later boarded in The Grange. He kept a blue Buggatti at the school which he used to park outside his housemaster's study, much to his irritation. On leaving school he spent some time touring France before returning home to join the Royal Air Force.

He was commissioned as an Acting Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force on the 2nd of September 1939 on a six year short service commission. He was posted to No. 5 Operational Training Unit at Ashton Down on the 23rd of February 1940 where he joined No. 8 Course. He was promoted to Pilot Officer, on probation, on the 24th of February 1940 and completed his training there on the 23rd of March 1940.

He was posted to 1 Squadron in France where the squadron had been engaged in the fighting since October 1939.

At 5.50am on the 5th of June 1940 he took off with ten other aircraft from Rouen Boos as part of B Flight with orders to patrol to the west of Rouen. At 6am, before they reached their appointed patrol height, they ran into a formation of about sixty German bombers being escorted by Messerschmitt 110 fighters. While A Flight went for the fighters, B Flight, under Flight Lieutenant Fritz Warcup, attacked two formations of Heinkel 111 bombers, of which one was seen to turn over on its back and fall. The squadron claimed to have shot down six bombers of which three were confirmed and most of the Hurricanes sustained damage. The aircraft of Alan Lindsell, Flying Officer Harry Bryan Lillie Hillcoat and Sergeant John Arbuthnot were badly damaged. Hillcoat was hit by a bullet in the radiator with his machine catching fire but he force landed safely while Arbuthnot, also hit in the radiator, force landed but without injury. Alan Lindsell force landed near Deauville but was badly injured, having broken his back, and returned to Rouen-Bois before being evacuated back to England.

On his return he was treated for spinal injuries at the Wingfield Morris Hospital in Oxford. He was confirmed in the rank of Pilot Officer on the 10th of July 1940 and was promoted to Flying Officer on the 24th of May 1941.

On the 21st of August 1942 he joined 609 Squadron at Duxford which was under the command of Squadron Leader Paul Richey, a former colleague from his days in France with No.1 Squadron. They were operating the new Typhoon fighter bomber. On arrival at 609 he astonished the Intelligence Officer, Frank Ziegler, by immediately demanding to be tested on aircraft recognition, which he described as "a hobby of mine".

He was posted to 181 Squadron as a Flight Commander on the 19th of September 1942, which had been formed at Duxford on the 1st of September and was also operating Typhoons. On the 26th of September he and two other pilots took off for a live air to air firing exercise.

A 6.40pm on the 27th of September 1942, despite still being in a special jacket for his spinal injury, he took off from RAF Duxford in Typhoon Mk 1 R7676 EL-?. While executing one of his favourite steep turns, the aircraft span into the ground from a height of 500 feet at 6.50pm, killing him on impact.

He was buried with full military honours on the 1st of October 1942. The station commander, Group Captain John Grundy, the pilots and aircrew of 181 Squadron were all in attendance.

He is commemorated on the war memorial at Portsmouth.
The Grange

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