Base; ?
Take off time: ?
Op: ?
Between 18th Dec 1941 and March 1942, the Squadron was non operational whilst new crews were being trained up to replace those who had left to fly the units old Hudson MK.III's and V's to the Far East. Of these 18 aircraft, only 7 made it to Sumatra. source
As there are no details available for this aircraft & crew loss at this stage, it is possible that they were one of these 18 crews. So far I have only been able to source one confirmed loss - AW Story & Crew
The following was supplied by John Hudson:
"My particular interest is 89331 F/O Derek John Randolph Gee, who was the pilot of Hudson III AM946 lost on 29Jan1942 between Portreath (Cornwall) and Gibraltar on the first leg of a transit flight. I haven't traced the aircraft's history, but I believe that at that time it was assigned to 1OADU rather than 59Sqn. I've always assumed that their final goal was Northern Australia or thereabouts, but I have no evidence for that. On the fateful flight were 3 59Sqn personnel (F/O Gee, F/Sgts Bolle and Pitcher) and one civilian passenger, a Nevill Vintcent (see ). Anecdotal evidence has it that the aircraft had been lightened for the journey, which might explain why only three crew were aboard"
Three crew lost: One passenger lost
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Neville Vintcent |
During WWII, the RAF used three-letter codes to identify their aircraft from a distance. Two large letters were painted before the roundel, which signified the squadron to which the aircraft belonged, and another letter was painted after the roundel which indicated the individual aircraft. Aditionally, there was the individual serial number for each aircraft, which was painted in a much smaller size, usually somewhere at the rear of the aircraft: (more)
Codes used by RAF 59 Squadron:
PJ Sep 1938 - Sep 1939
TR Sep 1939 - Oct 1942
1 Aug 1943 - Jul 1944
WE Jul 1944 - Oct 1945
BY Oct 1945 - Jun 1946, Dec 1947 - Oct 1950