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Home in Victoria
Enlisted in Vancouver, 30 March 1942
Trained at
No.4 ITS (graduated 24 October 1942),
No.5 EFTS (graduated 28 December 1942) &
No.7 SFTS (graduated 30 April 1943)
Joined & served with 409 Squadron
Joined the Israeli Air Force through John McElroy
Shot down by ground fire 20 Oct 1948 *
The 3 man crew of Beaufighter D170 survived but
All were captured and
subsequently killed by Egyptians
He is buried in Israel next to 4 other ex RCAF members,
G Beurling, Oliver Holton, Spencer Boyd & Fred Stevenson |
* - "On the morning of October 19th, D.171 was sent to assist the Israeli Navy in battles against Egyptian naval vessels when it encountered an Egyptian Hawker Fury flown by Abd Al-Hamid Abu Zayd, commander of Egypt's 2nd squadron. Aware that the Beaufighter stood little chance in a dogfight, the pilot, Len Fitchett, jettisoned his bomb load and put his bomber into a dive low over the water. Followed by the Egyptian, Fitchett abruptly pulled up, just in time to see the Fury crash into the sea. The same day saw a Beaufighter bombing the Egyptian stronghold of Iraq-Suidan.
On the next day, October 20th, two Beaufighters again took off from Ramat David to assist Israeli forces in fighting around Iraq-Suidan.
The lead aircraft, manned by Leonard Fitchett (Ignoring orders, Fitchett made a second pass at the target and suffered a hit in the port engine), Dov Shugerman and Stanley Andrews, was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed in Egyptian controlled territory, all three survived but were captured, murdered and mutilated by Egyptian troops. When Israeli forces finally gained control of the crash site, only Fitchett's body was recovered. D.170, the downed Beaufighter, was not found for decades and only in November 1994 was it unearthed from the sands of southern Israel, its remains found in a construction site. What small parts of it that remain are today displayed in the IAF museum at Hazterim."
For additional info see this page on Stan Andrews
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Victories Include :
24/25 Sept 1944
24/25 April 1945
19 October 1948 |
one He111
one Ju52/3m
one Sea Fury |
destroyed
destroyed
destroyed |
MM589 (Maastricht)
MM588 (Konigsburg)
D170 (no shots fired)[a] |
2 / 0 / 0
plus 1 in the Israeli War
[a] S/L Muhammad Abd al Hamid Abu Zaid, Commanding Officer of 2 Sqn REAF KIA
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