Thomas joined the RAF in 1936 and was already a fully operational pilot on the outbreak of war flying the Hawker Hurricane based at RAF Manston, Kent.

On 2^nd January Thomas asked his Flight Commander for permission to take the crew of his aircraft for a flight in a Magister Mk1.  This request was agreed and the flight authorised in the Flight Authorisation Book.  Early in the afternoon Thomas was seen to take off in Magister I P2508, with a passenger, climbing to 2,000 feet when the aircraft suddenly rolled onto its back and descended in an inverted glide, finally rolling out at about 200 feet. After the aircraft had landed Thomas was questioned by his Flight Commander and told that if he ever did such a thing again he would be grounded: he was also to be reported to the Squadron CO.

Thomas then took up another of his crewmen and the Magister was seen to taxi out at excessive speed. Two RAF witnesses in the area reported seeing the aircraft carrying out aerobatics at between 1,000 and 1,500 feet, including inverted flying. One of the witnesses saw the aircraft go into a near-vertical dive and disappear from view, followed by the sound of a crash. Both Thomas [aged 26] and his passenger [AC2 Sidney Smith] died in the impact at Garlinge, near Margate, Kent on Tuesday 2^nd January 1940.

The subsequent RAF Board of Inquiry was told that P/O Lewis was normally a careful pilot, although inclined to be temperamental and requiring tact in handling. The Board found that the cause of the accident was the pilot executing aerobatics at low altitude, and the possibility of obstruction of the controls in the rear cockpit by the passenger could not be dismissed.

Husband of Helen Lewis; son of Tom Lewis & Linda Lewis of Llanishen, Cardiff, South Wales and where he was subsequently buried.

A downloadable copy of this story is available here.

See also the Commonwealth War Graves Commission permanent digital memorial, ‘Evermore: Stories of the fallen’ :-
P/Officer Thomas Spencer LEWIS