The Airmen's Stories - Sgt. S W M Powell
Sydney William Martin Powell was born in June 1920 in Birmingham and joined the RAFVR as an Airman u/t WOp/AG in April 1939. Called up on 1st September 1939, he completed his training and was serving with 141 Squadron at Turnhouse in early July 1940.
On the ill-fated patrol from Hawkinge on the 19th, when nine Defiants were attacked by Me109's, Powell was flying with P/O HN Tamblyn. They claimed a Me109 destroyed in the one-sided battle and returned safely to Hawkinge, one of only four Defiants to do so.
Commissioned in May 1941, Powell was posted to 410 (RCAF) Squadron on 8th July 1941.
His subsequent service is currently undocumented until he was released from the RAF in 1946 as a Flight Lieutenant.
He joined the Royal Auxiliary Air Force in May 1949, in the Fighter Control Branch.
Powell died in Edgbaston on 6th January 1979.
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