Aircraft History
Constructors Number 29084. USAAF 42-105322.

Pilot History
Hutton was born in Christchurch on September 25, 1920 and joined the RNZAF on January 3, 1941. On November 1, 1943 he was credited with a Zero shot down over Empress Augusta Bay. On the date of his loss, he was 23 and had flown a total of 962 hours.

Wartime History
Assembled by No.1 Aircraft Depot, Hobsonville Airfield and BOC at Hobsonville Airfield August 9, 1943. Tail code "53". Assigned to 18 Squadron. Aircraft officially written off the books on December 17, 1943.

Mission History
One of twelve P-40s from 18 Squadron strafing positions at Kieta, Tonolei Harbor and anti-aircraft positions on Ballale. Over the target, heavy and accurate anti-aircraft fire was experienced, and the P-40s claimed several batteries silenced.

This P-40 was hit by anti-aircraft fire from the east side of Ballale. Streaming oil, he attempted to climb to 1,000-1,200' but instead dived into the sea six miles south of Fauro at 4:50pm.

P/O R. W. Bremner observed a parachute was observed to open but only just above the water. In the sea, Hutton landed 150 yards from where the P-40 crashed. He was observed treading water, but then sank and disappeared, no further trace was seen after 20 minutes of searching.

Memorials
Memorialized on the tablets of the missing, panel 4 at the Bourail Memorial.

References
Thanks to ADF Serials for aircraft history
Air-To-Air page 188, 193-194, 327

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Last Updated
October 1, 2009