Base: North Coates
Take off time ?
Op: ?
Remembered on the North Coates Roll of Honour. No mission details are known at this stage. Crew are noted as follows:
P/O DV Thesiger – (pilot) RAF
Sgt JR Hoskins – RAAF
Sgt AF Neary – NFDR (Canadian)
Sgt ES Normore – NFDR (Canadian)
ORB note: F/S Thesiger & crew (Sgt's Hoskins, Normore, Neary) failed to return from bombing practice carried out on the City of Birmingham wreck. Two bodies, those of Sgt. Neary and Sgt. Hoskins, were picked up by H.M.T Sheraton. The skipper which witnessed, from 4 1/4 miles away, the accident, It appeared to him that F/S Thesiger flew too low in his attacks, as there was a force 10 wind blowing and that a sudden gust may have caused the wing tip of TR-Z to touch the mast (of the wreck?). TR-Z was seen to plunge into the water. There was no wreckage when the trawler searched the site.
All Lost: view crew page
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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