Ernest Melville Charles Guest
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Flight Lieutenant Ernest Melville Charles Guest DFC |
|
|---|---|
| Born | May 1920 Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia |
| Died | 4 October 1943 (aged 23) |
| Memorial | Runnymede Memorial (Panel 119) (51°26′17″N 0°33′54″W / 51.438040°N 0.565030°WCoordinates: 51°26′17″N 0°33′54″W / 51.438040°N 0.565030°W) |
| Allegiance |
 British Empire
|
| Service/ |
 Royal Air Force
|
| Years of service | 1939–1943 |
| Rank | Flight Lieutenant |
| Service number | 33501 |
| Unit | |
| War | Second World War |
| Awards |
 Distinguished Flying Cross
|
| Relations |
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Ernest Melville Charles Guest DFC (May 1920 – 4 October 1943) was a Southern Rhodesian Royal Air Force pilot of the Second World War. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1942 having flown more than 1,000 operational hours. Posted to South Africa as a flight navigation instructor, he was unhappy and got himself transferred back to England on operational duties. He soon went missing in October 1943 after taking on six Ju 88s while on an anti-submarine sortie.
Ernest 'Melville' Guest was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, in May 1920, one of the twin sons of Ernest Lucas Guest, a prominent Rhodesian politician. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, he was nominated by the Governor of Southern Rhodesia to be a Royal Air Force cadet at RAF College, Cranwell. He was granted a permanent commission as Pilot Officer in the General Duties Branch on 9 October 1939.
Shortly after he passed out of Cranwell, he returned home on leave to attend the wedding of his elder sister, Gwen, and a telegram addressed to him was included by mistake in the congratulatory telegrams read out at the reception. It read: "Return to England immediately and report to Air Ministry". He was posted to No. 206 Squadron RAF and flew a number of sorties over enemy territory. When Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, along with Crown Princess Juliana and other members of the Dutch Royal Family fled to England in May 1940 aboard the British destroyer HMS Hereward, Guest was in the air escort that accompanied her to safety.
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