Operation: Training - night flying

Date: 12th January 1945 (Friday)

Unit: No. 5. L.F.S. (Lancaster Finishing School)

Type: Lancaster III

Serial: JB125

Code: -

Base: RAF Syerston, Nottinghamshire

Location: Hoveringham, Nottinghamshire

Pilot: P/O. Guy Rerenui Dunlop NZ/425241 RNZAF Age 28. Killed

Fl/Eng: Sgt. Patrick Joseph Vincent Browne 1897240 RAFVR Age 20. Killed

Nav: Fl/Sgt. Peter John Hill NZ/425790 RNZAF Age 22. Killed (1)

Air/Bmr: Sgt. Albert John Evans BEM. 1422223 RAFVR Age 26. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. Richard Ludgvan Staples NZ/4212868 RNZAF Age 23. Killed

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Richard Henry Sedgley 1852400 RAFVR Age 19. Killed

Air/Gnr: Sgt. William Fordyce Cairns 1822619 RAFVR Age 19. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off at 18:45 hrs for training night flight. On return encountered failing visibility as the cloud base being down to 5-600 ft with a persistent drizzle. Flew beyond the airfield and while banking flew into the ground at 21:50 hrs half a mile north of the Tree Hotel at Hoveringham.

(1) Fl/Sgt. Peter Hill's brother, P/O. Howard Perry Hill, was a Battle of Britain pilot who also lost his life - killed during September 1940.

Above left to right: W/Op/Air/Gnr, Fl/Sgt. Richard Staples. Pilot, P/O. Guy Rerenui Dunlop

Left above: Glasgow (Cardonald) Cemetery. Right above: Oddington (St. Nicholas) Churchyard.

Left above: Oxford (Botley) Cemetery.Right above: Barking (Rippleside) Cemetery

Burial details:

P/O. Guy Rerenui Dunlop. Oxford (Botley) Cemetery. Plot H/1. Grave 204. Son of Reginald Crauford Dunlop and Kate Annie Dunlop, of Matamata, Auckland, New Zealand.

Sgt. Patrick Joseph Vincent Browne. Barking (Rippleside) Cemetery. Sec. F. Grave 311. Son of Charles and Mary Ellen Browne, of Barking.

Fl/Sgt. Peter John Hill. Oxford (Botley) Cemetery. Plot H/1. Grave 203. Son of Jack Stanley Hill and of Dorothy Helen Hill (nee White) of Spring Creek, Marlborough, New Zealand.

Sgt. Albert John Evans B.E.M..Oxford (Botley) Cemetery. Plot H/1. Grave 205. Son of Abraham and May Evans; husband of Emma Mary Evans, of Treorchy, Glamorgan, Scotland.

Fl/Sgt. Richard Ludgvan Staples. Oxford (Botley) Cemetery. Plot H/1. Grave 202. Son of Albert Asser Staples and Mary Jane Staples.

Sgt. Richard Henry Sedgley. Oddington (St. Nicholas) Churchyard. Grave - south of church. Son of Mr. and Mrs. G. Sedgley, of Upper Oddington England.

Sgt. William Fordyce Cairns. Glasgow (Cardonald) Cemetery. Sec. B. Grave 101. Son of Hector Macdonald Cairns and Elizabeth Smith Fordyce Cairns, of Mosspark, Glasgow, Scotland.

With thanks to the sources as quoted below.