Date:	Monday 16 February 1942
Time:	16:35
Type:	Curtiss Kittyhawk Mk I
Owner/operator:	3 Sqn RAAF
Registration:	AK691
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	20 miles south of El Adem -   Libya
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Sidi Heneish landing ground (LG 012)
Destination airport:

Narrative:
At 1600 hrs five Kittyhawks of 3 Sqn RAAF scrambled from Sidi Heneish landing ground (LG 012) to intercept enemy aircraft approaching El Adem. About 10 miles SE of El Adem six Bf 109s were sighted 1,000 feet below flying in open V formation. The Australian pilots gave chase but no contact was made. While they returned 3 Bf 109s were sighted behind, and the formation turned for a head-on attack. Contact was made in one case when Sgt Gordon H White fired at 100 yards. His target was seen to leave its formation in a glide and was claimed as damaged, at 1640 hrs SE of El Adem. But one of the Australian fighters, the Kittyhawk I AK691 flown by Flg Off Thomas Lancelot Threlkeld failed to return. It had been shot down by Oblt Fritz Keller of 2./JG 27, who claimed a P-40 as his 5th victory at 1635 hrs 30 km SE El Adem. The British Army reported that Threlkeld was killed when his fighter crashed in flames about 20 miles south of El Adem.

3 Sqn RAAF Unit History, 16 February 1942 (available on Australian Archives website: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1158595, pages 588-589 and 600)
"A history of the Mediterranean Air War 1940-1945. Volume Two: North African Desert February 1942 – March 1943", by Christopher Shores and Giovanni Massimello with Russel Guest, Frank Olynyk and Winfried Bock, ISBN 978-1-909166-12-7, page 43
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2383391/thomas-lancelot-threlkeld/
"Die Jagdfliegerverbände der deutschen Luftwaffe 1934 bis 1945, Teil 8/II: Einsatz im Mittelmeerraum November 1941 bis December 1942", by Jochen Prien & co. ISBN 978-3-923457-75-8
http://www.3squadron.org.au/indexpages/kia.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Adm
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=he&lat=31.863611&lon=23.925278&z=10&m=w

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-Sep-2010 14:30	ASN Archive
17-Feb-2022 19:28	Laurent Rizzotti	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]