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Flight Lieutenant Lyon arrived at this unit shortly after its inception and since that time has worked incessantly for its betterment. He is outstanding in his lecturing and organizing ability in carrying out his duties as a navigation course instructor. His previous knowledge of navigational equipment on Liberator aircraft has been used to great advantage in this phase of the training. He utilizes every spare moment to carry out research work and has put forward many excellent suggestions which have been incorporated, giving marked improvement of navigational results. His conscientious application to his work has earned the respect of both staff and trainees and inspired all concerned to greater efforts.

On 21 November 1942 he was navigator in Wellington HX578 of Temporary Wellington Flight, Waterloo, on a convoy escort flight. On its completion the aircraft was to land at Robertsfield. The crew consisted of J8430 P/O F.P. Bartkiewicz (WOP/AG, killed), R69363 Sergeant J.J. De Marco (WOP/AG, killed), J8218 P/O C.J. Radford (pilot, injured, survived), 119657 P/O A.E. Abraham, RAF (second pilot, survived). J9565 P/O P.V. Lyon (navigator, injured survived) plus J11211 P/O R. Gillin, passenger. Radford had 189 hours 20 minutes flying on type and 396 hours 45 minutes total. Problems began after about 90 minutes flying and 60 miles from the convoy. The aircraft crashed at 6 degrees 50 minutes North, 13 degrees 10 minutes west. Aircraft was cruising when a knocking developed in port engine and smoke was seen to issue from the port engine cowling. There was as yet no apparent loss of power. Oil began streaming over port nacelle. After some time there was an explosion and the top of the port cowling burst open. From this point onwards power dropped. Pilot attempted to jettison depth charges but they hung up. Normal release system also failed. The engine then failed completely and pilot tried to ditch, closing the bomb doors before alighting at about 60 knots. Apparently preoccupied by a DC-3, pilot did not jettison petrol, and aircraft sank within seconds of ditching, taking down one crewman. The dinghy had inflated about 50 feet away and the crew boarded it; they were eventually spotted by a Hudson and picked up by ASR launch and six and one-half hours after ditching. His subsequent testimony at the crash inquiry was as follows:

I am a Navigator of the Temporary Wellington Flight, Waterloo. At 1020 hours on the 17th November 1943, I was a member of the crew of Wellington HX578, which took off from Waterloo to carry out a convoy patrol, afterwards landing at Robertsfield. On this flight and three subsequent flights from Robsertsfield no trouble from the engine was experienced.

At 0700 hours on the 21st November 1942, the aircraft took off from Robertsfield to carry out a convoy patrol with instructions to land at Waterloo. Before taking off I noticed that two gill plates were missing from the port engine. In the air, however, the aircraft was giving a better than normal performance, i.e. our I.A.S. was 120 knots instead of the usual 116 knots.

At 0827 hours I heard a popping noise from the port engine. The first pilot asked me for a course to the nearest land. A minute later he asked for a course to Waterloo, on which we flew until the aircraft ditched. At the time of setting course we were 120 miles south of Waterloo. I gave our position and E.T.A. to the Wireless Operator on two separate occasions and he replied each time that the messages had been received by shore stations. At 0845 hours the first pilot announced over the intercom that he was preparing to ditch the aircraft. I started to jettison loose articles but as we were losing height very rapidly I gave it up and took my ditching station beneath the astro-dome. I saw the second pilot and passenger also braced and the rear gunner in his turret. The initial impact was comparatively slight, but the aircraft commenced sinking rapidly. It was at that moment intact. I found myself on the surface of the water and the aircraft had broken up. The first pilot, second pilot and passenger were also on the surface and conscious. We found Pilot Officer Bartkiewicz, the Wireless Operator, floating on the surface with his Mae West inflated but he was unconscious. We placed him in the half-inflated dinghy which had also come to the surface, but later discovered that he was dead. As there was no prospect of rescue at that time we came to the conclusion that it would be better to bury him at sea.

We were later spotted by a Hudson and picked up by a high speed launch after approximately six and a half hours in the water.