Jewett, James Steven (Flight Sergeant)

144 Squadron (Who Shall Stop Us) Hampden TBI AE 436 PL-J suffered an overheated engine enroute to Murmansk in northern Russia from the Shetland Islands. The aircraft flew into high ground on a remote mountain in far Northern Sweden along the Norwegian/Swedish border, crashed and burned on a rocky plateau just below the west side of the 6,076 foot peak on Tsatsa Mountain. FS JS Jewett (RCAF), FS JP Campbell (RCAF) and Flying Officer WH Bowler (RCAF) were killed. The aircraft and bodies were not found until August 15, 1976. Pilot Officer D Evans (RAF) and Cpl BJ Sowerby (RAF) survived the crash and fire, then managed to walk 20 miles through the mountains to safety in extreme conditions, taking 3 days (RC Nesbit) 144 Sqn. was being re-deployed to Russia to provide protection to convoys after the losses of convoy PQ-17 and ran into bad weather. To disguise the violation of Swedish neutrality Pilot Officer Evans and Cpl Sowerby claimed to be evaders from an aircraft shot down in Norway. The wreckage of the aircraft and the remains of the crew remained undiscovered until found by hikers in August 1976. The wreckage has since been recovered and is being restored for display in a museum in England. See www.forcedlandingcollection.se/RAFe/RAF024-AE436.html for the story of it's discovery. Addendum: The wreckage of AE436 lay on the mountainside where it crashed until rediscovered in 1976 by the Västernorrland Historical Society. Following a funeral for the three deceased crew members at Kviberg Cemetery Göteborg, the wreckage was salvaged by the Swedish Air Force and returned to the United Kingdom. Initially the crated remains were stored at RAF Henlow until discovered in June 1987 by the late Brian Nicholls, a serving member of the Royal Air Force who was looking for a suitable restoration project. Having discounted restorations of -extinct' types such as the Whitley and Stirling as unfeasible, Brian settled on bringing a Hampden back to life. The crated remains of AE436 were delivered to RAF Coningsby where the contents were examined, prior to the project making the short journey to East Kirkby where restoration started in earnest during 1989. As a veteran of Bomber Command operations, having taken part in the first 1000 bomber raid against Cologne on 30th/31st May 1942, a restored AE436 will be a more than suitable hangarmate for East Kirkby's iconic Lancaster. (aviation-safety.net)