Pilot Officer ASW Webster

The First Ten Months

Arthur Sedgwick Whiteley Webster, the first American to serve with Bomber Command was born in Cape Town in 1904 but a distant South African connection when he commissioned in 1940. Webster had experienced less than two months of operational flying when their No 9 Squadron Wellington was shot down in early June. Two crew members were killed while Webster and three others spent almost five years as a “POW’s” and was in Stalag III at the time of the “Great Escape”. His fellow crew member Pilot Officer BA James, recaptured after escaping was not murdered by the Gestapo.

Not at Home for Christmas

Cape Town born 36-year-old Pilot Officer Sedgwick Whiteley Webster, an American in the RAF serving as No 9 Squadron Wellington gunner was shot down over Holland in early June, apparently the first American “POW” in Europe.