• Bristol Blenheim

Date of birth:

1916 (Shanghai, China)

Date of death:

August 11th, 1952 (Zanzibar)

Service number:

3905

Nationality:

British

Michael attended Monkton Combe Junior School, leaving in 1927.

When Michael Beytagh's parents divorced he was brought up by a guardian and then adopted by a wealthy American and was subsequently educated in the US. He did not get along with his adoptive parents however and returned to his guardian after which he took a job in Maidstone to learn insurance law and run a small office.
He then broke with his earlier life and obtained a short service commission in the RAF as a fighter pilot, joining No. 23 Squadron in 1937 and subsequently No. 73 Squadron which was part of the AAF in France. He saw action during the Battle of Britain.
In November 1940 No. 73 Squadron he sailed for West Africa in the carrier HMS 'Furious' and then on to Egypt.
In Takoradi for a rest, Beytagh and four other pilots were ordered to fly a Blenheim and two Hurricanes to Freetown on 21st June 1941. Compelled by bad weather to make a forced-landing in the jungle they were unable to take off again and they walked 72 miles in two days and three nights, eventually arriving at the Firestone Rubber Plantation, 35 miles from Monrovia, Liberia.
Beytagh returned to the UK in November 1941 and was posted to 55 OTU and on 2nd October 1942 he took command of o. 602 Squadron at Skeabrae, stationed there for the defence of Scapa Flow. In January 1943 602 flew south to Perranporth for a more active role.
Beytagh was posted in October 1943 to the Air Ministry in the Directorate of Air Transport Policy. Early in 1945 he went to Staff College and then returned to the Air Ministry as Deputy Director Plans, as a Wing Commander.
Beytagh left the RAF on 10th January 1946 and in April went to Uganda as an Administrative Officer in the Colonial Service. In March 1949 he was posted to the island Pemba, Zanzibar as District Commissioner.
Beytagh died there from a cerebral thrombosis. At his own request he was buried at sea off Pemba.

24 August, 1936: Acting Pilot Officer on .probation
29 June, 1937: Pilot Officer
29 January, 1939: Flying Officer
3 September, 1940: Flight Lieutenant
1 March, 1942: Temporary Squadron Leader
1 May, 1944: Squadron Leader (war sub)
27 November, 1948: Commission relinquished on enlistment in the Territorial Army

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• Photo 1: THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN LONDON MONUMENT
• Photo: The Battle of Britain London Monument
  
• - SHORES, CH. & WILLIAMS, C., Aces High, Grub Street, London, 1994.
  - Page 5940 | Issue 34323, 15 September 1936 | London Gazette | The Gazette
  - Page 6150 | Issue 34441, 5 October 1937 | London Gazette | The Gazette
  - Page 1214 | Issue 34600, 21 February 1939 | London Gazette | The Gazette
  - Page 6493 | Supplement 34989, 12 November 1940 | London Gazette | The Gazette
  - Page 1387 | Issue 35503, 27 March 1942 | London Gazette | The Gazette
  - Page 36 | Issue 35841, 29 December 1942 | London Gazette | The Gazette
  - Page 4357 | Supplement 36192, 28 September 1943 | London Gazette | The Gazette
  - The London Gazette Publication date:4 July 1944 Supplement:36597Page:3178
  - The London Gazette Publication date:21 June 1949 Supplement:38643Page:3039
  - The Battle of Britain London Monument
  - Jacqueline Burrows (archivist at Monkton Combe School)