Operation: Test flight

Date: 24th May 1940 (Friday)

Unit: No. 600 Squadron

Type: Bristol Blenheim I-F

Serial: L1516

Code: Not known

Base: RAF Redhill, Surrey

Location: Fordbridge gravel pit, Sunbury-on-Thames

Pilot: F/O. Patrick Claude Hannay 90097 RAF (Aux) Age 27. Killed

Obs: LAC. James Dempster Short 749371 RAFVR Age ? Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Engine cut and control was lost, hit trees and crashed in Fordbridge gravel pit Sunbury-on-Thames. Destroyed by fire.

Burial details:

Above: The CWGC maintain their grave to a high standard. Many families elected to have their relatives buried in family graves. Sadly over time these can be neglected, for whatever reason, as this sample of the pilots grave shows. The CWGC have no jurisdiction to maintain them.

F/O. Patrick Claude Hannay. Cranbourne Churchyard (St. Peter) Sec. F. S.E. part. Row 11. Grave 6. He was the husband of Aline 'Pixie' Thorne Hannay (née Pease) the sister of Peter Pease, (right) and was killed within a few weeks of his marriage. No further details - are you able to assist?

LAC James Dempster Short. Northwood Cemetery. Sec. H. Grave 186. No further details - are you able to assist?

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to Andrea Ruddick for grave photographs - May 2007, other sources indicated below. With thanks to Hugh Wheeler for his research into Blenheim losses.