Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.

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09.10.1943 No. 464 Squadron Mosquito FB.V1 HX912 SB-F Fl/Lt. Kerr

Operation: Ramrod 265 - Woippy, France

Date: 09th October 1943 (Saturday)

Unit: No. 464 Squadron (RNZAF - 2 Group)

Type: Mosquito FB.VI

Serial: HX912

Code: SB-F

Base: RAF Sculthorpe, Norfolk

Location: Schoten, Belgium

Pilot: Fl/Lt. Philip Charles Copeland Kerr AUS/405106 RAAF Age 25. Killed

Nav: F/O. Bernard John Ewart Hannah NZ/403446 RNZAF Age 31. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off between 11:05 and 11:16 hrs to bomb the aero engine works at Woippy in France, together with 11 others.

Poor weather encountered shortly after take-off resulted in aircraft becoming scattered and landing away from base on return to England. Mosquito HX912 was last seen by the others in a shallow dive heading towards the cloud-covered target area. It was later discovered to have come down at Schoten on the outskirts of Antwerp.

It is reported during the return trip after the operation had been aborted, that the pilot perhaps pressed the bomb release whilst flying low instead of the intercom, the resulting explosion hit the aircraft killing both the crew.

Burial details:

Initially buried on the 11th October in Borsbeek - reinterred after the end of the war.

Fl/Lt. Philip Charles Copeland Kerr. Schoonselhof Cemetery. Grave IVa.B.13. Born on the 26th August 1918 at Nanango, the son of Joseph Copeland Kerr and Emily Francis Kerr, of Harrisville, Queensland. Australia.

F/O. Bernard John Ewart Hannah. Schoonselhof Cemetery. Grave IVa.B.14. Born on the 19th April 1912 at Napier, the son of John Gordon Hannah and of Agnes Hannah (née Malone), of Wellington City, New Zealand. A total of 536 flying hours logged and on his 23rd 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:

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