Curtiss Tomahawk, Arklow, Wicklow, April 1942

On April 24th 1942, an aircraft was sighted by Irish military posts at Sandycove, Dalkey and then Bray. Reports were later received that an aircraft had made a landing in a field near Arklow, County Wicklow at 14:05 hours. The location was in the townland of Kilcarra on the land of a William Appleby.

The pilot gave his name to the Irish military as F/O Donald Newton Kennedy, serial number 93835. They also recorded addresses he provided as being; ‘52 Bolshore Road, Handforth, Cheshire' and '12 NCR, Lisburn, Co. Down', the latter being the address his wife resided at. F/O Kennedy reported that he had been flying from Maghaberry in Northern Ireland and had suffered a compass failure. His decision to land was due to his running low on fuel. The aircraft was undamaged in the landing but it was determined that the aircraft could not take off from the same field.  The photo shown here was taken by Mr Thomas J Cullen, a Dublin based architect who happened to be working in the Arklow area in early 1942 and appears to have had the opportunity to photograph AH920 on the ground.

Donald Newton was taken from Wicklow to the British internment camp in the Curragh and spent the night of the 24th of April interned. It had been claimed or thought that day by the Irish Authorities that his aircraft was pursuing German aircraft down the Irish Sea. However, upon inspection of the aircraft it was duly noted that while it was equipped with two nose guns, these were fitted with neither barrels nor recoil mechanisms.

On the 25th of April, Acting Colonel Dan Bryan, Chief Staff Officer of the G2 Branch penned a short memo to the Provost Marshall of the Irish Army which read:
Forced landing of British Aircraft at Kilcarra, near Arklow, on the 24th April, 1942.

A British Curtis Tomahalk single seater fighter aircraft made a forced landing through lack of petrol at Kilcarra, 1 mile SE of woodenbridge, Co. Wicklow, at approximately 13.15 hrs. on the 24th instant.  The pilot who was unhurt communicated with the Arklow Garda who arrived on the scene and took him into custody at about 14.00 hrs.  He was subsequently removed to Arklow Garda Barracks.

Particulars of the pilot are as follows:

93835 Flying Officer Donald Newtown Kennedy.
Home Address: 52 Bolshore Road, Hanfort, Cheshire.

Next of kin:    Wife,
Address: 12, N.C.Rd., Lisburn, Co. Antrim.

Flying Officer Kennedy left Arklow under military escort for the Curragh at 17.30 hrs. on the 24th and arrived there at 19.35 hrs. when he was interned.

Donald Newton Kennedy was born on the 3rd of July, 1917 in Manchester. His parents were Thomas Anderson and Dora Winifred Louise Pickworth who had married in 1914 in Withington, Manchester. Donald’s father was a First World War veteran who had served from late 1916 to the end of the war as a Clerk in the Army Pay Corps.  Donald attended Repton School in  Derbyshire between September 1931 and July 1934 and while there attended the OTC, or Officers Training Corps.

The pilot had begun the war as a commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the 41st Royal Tank Regiment but took the opportunity to transfer to the RAF and take the rank of Pilot Officer in Army Co-Operation Command with RAF serial number 43959. The differences between his officially published serial number and that of the hand written one in the Irish Army report may simply be a problem with illegible hand writing in the Irish report.  His  transfer  to and Commishion into the RAF was published in the London Gazette in the summer of 1940.  He undertook successful flying training with No. 9 Flying Training School between the 17th of August and the 4th of November 1940.  This was followed by a month at No. 1 School of Army Co-Operation.

Donald married Gladys Susannah Cook in the parish church of St Thomas, Salisbury on 17 December 1940, just prior to his being posted to Northern Ireland.

P/O Kennedy was posted to 231 Squadron with effect from 22 Dec 1940, being assigned to ‘A’ flight. He was promoted to the rank of Flying Officer in August 1941. The Squadron ORB, Summary of Events rarely mentions individual pilot duties but F/O Kennedy is mentioned as having completed two successful lives shoots, this time on the strength of ‘C’ Flight on 1st April 1942. On the 6th of April he carried out photo missions in a Lysander aircraft. The following day he completed a three aircraft navigation trip to Derry, Limavady and Rathlin Island. Again on the 8th of April he took part in a three aircraft formation flight to Newtownards from the base at Maghaberry. The 10th and 11th of April saw him complete successful artillery reconnaissance flights in a Tomahawk. His next name mention is a Lysander flight to Carlisle and back for navigation training and collection of stores. He was back on a Tomahawk artillery recon flight on the 20th of April.

Finally, on April 24th, the ORB records:
“A” Flight – F/O D.N.KENNEDY in TOMAHAWK took off to attempt an ARTY/R in the ENNISKILLEN district, as he did not arrive over the area P/O D.H.R.Broadberry in a LYSANDER went to search for him. F/O D.N.KENNEDY reported as having landed unharmed.

 The aircraft that Donald Kennedy forced landed in Wicklow was an American built Curtiss Tomahawk IIA. A version of the Curtiss P-40B Warhawk fighter, the Tomahawk IIA was equipped with some British equipment and supplied in a batch of 110 aircraft.  After it was landed in the field near Arklow, a recovery team from the Irish Air Corps at Baldonnel, south west of Dublin, was dispatched to deal with the aircraft. Over the following four days, it was disassembled on site and moved by road to Baldonel where it was reassembled and again made airworthy. It was while there that some photos were taken of the aircraft, one of which is shown at right and was taken by Sgt Copley.  The photo is used with the kind permission of Geoff Copley. The aircraft was made ready for flight by the 13th May when a pilot from the RAF arrived from Northern Ireland. He took over the aircraft and flew it out after 3pm on that day. Again, the pilots name and serial number were recorded by the Air Corps, but they are difficult to decipher in the file, the best guess being Wilson 398117. At that time, also stationed with 231 Squadron was an officer named Michael de Lancey WILSON 398117.

Kennedy is not mentioned again until 5th May 1942 when he is announced as posted to No.2 A.C. Squadron. He was transferred to 26 Squadron on the 15th of June that year.

And this is where Donald’s wartime activities met their sad end. On the 19 August 1942, the Canadian 2nd Division landed on the beaches of the occupied French town of Dieppe. Part of the massive air armada which flew in support of the infantry was 26 Squadron in their Mustang fighters. Norman Franks in his book “The Greatest Air Battle” describes how at 5:15am Kennedy along with one other pilot, took off on a sortie:
“By this time other Mustangs were out. 26 Squadron sent out Flight Lieutenant Donald N. Kennedy (AG536) and Sergeant G D M Cliff (AG584) at 5:15 but neither pilot was destined to return. Kennedy was killed and the 21 -year-old Geoffrey Denys Maynard Cliff, from Essex, also lost his life.”

The AIR81 casualty report for Kennedy and Cliff contains a "Written (Circumstancial) Report" on the mens loss and lists the intended route of the Kennedy/Cliff flight, and this is mapped on the following Goggle Map showing that they were intended to patrol some 20km to the west of Dieppe town itself.  The report reads:

I have the honour to refer to this Squadron's Casualty Signals A. 596 and A. 597 both dated 20th August, 1942.

F/Lt. D.N. Kennedy was dispatched on a tactical reconaissance sortie at 05.25 hours on 19th August, 1942 in connection with Operation "Jubilee"; Sgt Cliff being detailed to act as his 'weaver'. The route of the reconnaissance was as follows: -

Down River Le Durdent as far as Cany, then Ourville - Fouville - Valliquerville - Yvetot - Bourdainville - St. Laurent-en-Caux -
Vevles les Roses.

The aircraft were airborne at 05.25 hours and were due over the area at 05.55 hours. F/Lt. Kennedy was instructed to observe any movement of troops, armoured vehicles or supplies towards the Dieppe Area.

After the aircraft left base no contact whatever was made by the Command Ship as far as is known and certainly not by base. Both pilots failed to return.

While Cliff’s remains were never recovered, remains identified as Donald's were interred in the Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery within Dieppe town itself. The headstone carries only his service details with no family inscription and the Commonwealth War Graves registers contain no next of kin details. It would seem that contact was lost with his wife and family by the time final arrangements were being made for remembrance in 1949. 

The Manchester Evening News of 2nd September 1942 carried a small Roll of Honour note for Donald, stating:
Missing
KENNEDY - Missing from operations August 1942, Flight Lieut, Donald N Kennedy, R.A.F., only son of Mr. and Mrs. T. A. Kennedy, of 52 Bolshaw Road, Cheadle (late of Withington).
It is not clear as to what became of his widow. The National Probate Calendar of 1943 records Donald’s address as being 52 Bolshaw Road, Cheadle, Cheshire with his effects going to Gladys Susannah Kennedy, widow.
The Manchester Evening News dated August 19, 1943 carried a simple memorial notice:
KENNEDY - In proud and loving memory of Flight-Lieut. DONALD N. KENNEDY, killed in action at Dieppe in August, 1942, and buried at Les Vertus, Hautot-sur-Mer.  No letters please.

His widow was written to by the RAF in December 1942 to announce that to the best of their knowledge given the passing of time, it was to be assumed he was deceased and that he would be confirmed in this status in the following April unless anything else was heard.  She was at this time living at White Hart Hotel, Salisbury, Wilts.  And it was from there that she wrote to the Air Ministry in April and May 1943, to acknowledge their confirmation letters, and to confirm that she herself knew nothing more about her husbands fate.

On the 9th of June 1943, the Air Ministry wrote again to Gladys to advise that the French authorities had passed on details that an English soldier, Kennedy, died on 19th August 1942, near Dieppe, and was buried in the Cemetery Les Vertus at Hautot s/mer (Seine Inf.), France, Grave No. 484.   The paragraph closed with:  There is no doubt that this refers to your husband, Flight Lieutenant D. N. Kennedy, 43959.

On the day of the landing at Dieppe, five men with the surname Kennedy were killed during the days battle.  One was Donald N Kennedy, who was expected to be flying a patrol 20km to the west of the town.  Three men were Canadian infantry men involved in the assault itself.  The final man to loose his life was a Royal Navy Able Seaman, a gunner from a Landing Craft Assault (LCA) from HMS Glengyle, whose remains were never officially identified.  The German or French documentation produced in the immediate aftermath of the landing identified the remains buried as Donald simply as a person with surname Kennedy and the letters PRES.  It is assumed the letters PRES refer to the religion indicator stamped on wartime identity disks found on the body.  There was no particular annotations made that the remains were that of a soldier, sailor or airman.  Sea tides were such that remains could travel many many miles away from their entry into the water, with the prevailing current being to the east.  Historian and researcher Phil Mills research into his grandfather who was lost from a Landing Craft Tank that day believes that post liberation, many errors might have been made in casualty identification, both by those Germans and French at the scene and later by the RAF search teams.  Indeed the IWGC in 1949 did not seem certain that the grave contained an airman but were content to concur with the Air Ministries conclusion that it was.  The last address for Gladys in the files in 1949 is 10 Glenavon Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham.

Donald's father remained living at Bolshore Road until his death in 1957. Donald’s mother did not pass away until 1973 in Child Okeford, Blandford, Dorset. Donald had one sister named Margaret, with whom their mother was living at the time of her death in 1973. Margaret married George Derek ‘Dick’ Harthan in 1951 and they both worked at the Bryanston Schools in Dorset. Margaret passed away in May 2010 without any descendants it appears.

Compiled by Dennis Burke, 2025, Dublin and Sligo. With the assistance of Phil Mills, researcher, Geoff Copley and the community in Child Okeford & Blanford.