Operation: Armed reconnaissance
Date: 27th December 1944 (Wednesday)
Unit: No. 486 Squadron (122 Wing, 83 Group)
Type: Tempest V
Serial: EJ627
Code: SA-E
Base: Volkel, Netherlands
Location: Handorf, Germany
Pilot: F/O. Bevan Mason Hall NZ/421705 RNZAF Age 22. Missing - believed killed
REASON FOR LOSS:
Taking off at 12:23 hrs with 7 others from the squadron on an armed reconnaissance operation to Paderborn. They were then redirected to Münster.
Once there they were involved in a massive air battle with upwards of 65 Luftwaffe fighters. Breaking away F/O. Hall went to assist one of his fellow squadron members but was then immediately shot down with his aircraft coming down on the Handorf - Dorbaum road close to the airfield, his aircraft exploding on impact.
He was buried midway on the 29th December at the Haus-Spital prisoner of war cemetery in Münster. Sadly, during post war searchers by search teams his grave could not be found, perhaps because of previous disturbance by allied exhumation units. Today, F/O. Bevan Hall is now remembered on the Runnymede Memorial.
Burial details:
F/O. Bevan Mason Hall. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 262. No further details on next of kin but understood to be from Palmerston North, New Zealand. Perhaps you could assist with this? A total of 628 flying hours logged and on his 165th operational sortie.
Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to the research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Weekly News of New Zealand, other sources as quoted below:
