Identity
Person No.
31297
Old ROH no.
2145
Service No.
P1/40756
Last Name
First Name
Jack Norman
Initials
J N
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
22
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
KIA 14,780
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action, in North American F-51 Mustang #362. Capt Leathers, with 2Lt J.N. Lellyet as his No.2, was leading four aircraft on a training flight, a simulated interdiction strike on a rail bridge over a river. They arrived over the designated area at 10500 feet, and commenced their attacks in echelon port formation. Shortly after pulling out of his dive at 3000 feet, Capt Leathers looked back and saw an explosion short of the target and a half mile to starboard. The No.3 then reported over the radio that "No.2 has gone in.". No.3 and No.4 aircraft proceeded to orbit the crash site while Capt Leathers flew back to K-10 to report the accident, as he was unable to radio them. Lt Lellyet's body was recovered
Military Service
Branch
Air Force
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Regiment
Unit
Unknown
Secondary Unit
Army
Defence Force
UDF 24,809
Union Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Cemetery
Grave Reference
Memorial
Memorial
Location
Tanggok, Nam District, Busan, South Korea
Address
Coordinates
Panel
On the panel
Alternative Commemoration until grave found
Unit History
Part of
Notes
ref. 85 years of SAAF
Research notes
5 Sep 2026: Unit "2 Squadron" (a squadron, SAAF's regiment-equivalent) promoted to Regiment, per John's decision. Corps (South African Air Force) unchanged.
Citations
Unknown
External References
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
-
United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea
open source ↗
United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea (UNMCK), Busan — South African Korean War dead.
Stories 1
Capt Leathers, with 2Lt J.N. Lellyet as his No.2, was leading four aircraft on a training flight, a simulated interdiction strike on a rail bridge over a river. They arrived over the designated area at 10500 feet, and commenced their attacks in echelon port formation. Shortly after pulling out of his dive at 3000 feet, Capt Leathers looked back and saw an explosion short of the target and a half mile to starboard. The No.3 then reported over the radio that "No.2 has gone in.". No.3 and No.4 aircraft proceeded to orbit the crash site while Capt Leathers flew back to K-10 to report the accident, as he was unable to radio them. Lt Lellyet's body was recovered, and buried in the UN cemetery at Pusan.
Dedications
No dedications have been added yet.