Operation: Battle Area, France

Date: 15th June 1940 (Saturday)

Unit No. 150 Squadron, Advanced Air Striking Force (AASF)

Type: Battle I

Serial: L5541

Code: JN:A

Base: Houssay Aerodrome, France

Location: La Ferté-Vidame, 40 km (23¾ mls) SW of Dreux, France

Pilot: Plt Off. Eric Arthur Benjamin 77777 RAFVR Age 20. Safe (1)

Observer: Sgt. Frank Allen Armstrong 581075 RAFVR Age? Safe (2)

Wireless Op/Air Gnr: LAC. Eric George Hillyard 747947 RAFVR Age 20. Injured (3)

REASON FOR LOSS:

Ten (10) aircraft from the Sqn were detailed to attack columns of concentrated troops in the general area of Louviers – Vernon – Viry-Châtillon - Évreux. Fighter cover was to be provided. They took-off from Houssay Aerodrome commencing at 04:00 hrs on the 15th June.

Plt Off. Benjamin’s Battle was the only aircraft that failed to return. Ironically the Sqn was being evacuated from France to RAF Abington the following day.

The aircraft had been badly shot-up by three (3) German Bf109s and forced down at La Ferté-Vidame, 40 km (23¾ mls) SW of Dreux, France. LAC. Hillyard was severely wounded in the right arm by splinters. Plt Off. Benjamin and Sgt. Armstrong helped him into a French ambulance which took him to a hospital in le Mans.

(1) Plt Off. Benjamin rejoined the Sqn on the 24th June 1940.

A short video by Tom Bowen provides images of the aircraft after the forced landing and describes the subsequent fate of Plt Off. Benjamin and his crew.

Wg Cdr. Benjamin DFC & Bar was KiA on the 20th February 1945. He was the Master Bomber assigned to the Böhlen Operation this day. His 627 Sqn, Mosquito B.XXV KB401 AZ:E was shot down by Flak and crashed in the target area. His Navigator, Fg Off. John Ettock Heath DFM 171190 was posted MiA.

(2) Sgt. Armstrong rejoined the Sqn on the 24th June 1940. No further information has been found for Sgt. Armstrong other than he is not listed as being KiA , a PoW or a subsequent evader.

(3) After three days LAC. Hillyard was transferred to the hospital in Angers where his right arm was amputated. On the same day Angers was occupied by the Germans. On being informed later by a German medical officer that he was going to be sent to a PoW camp in Germany, he decided to escape and succeeded in walking out of the hospital on the 21st October. He made his way to unoccupied France and was finally repatriated after a medical board in Marseilles.

He left Gibraltar on the 14th February 1941 by sea arriving in Gourock on the west coast of Scotland on the 23rd February 1941.

For his courage in escaping whilst still suffering from the effects of the amputation Sgt. Hillyard was Mentioned in Despatches (MiD) which was promulgated in the London Gazette on the 11th June 1942 in the King’s Birthday Honours List.

Eric George Hillyard was born on the 31st October 1919 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire. He married Marjorie Grace Hopwell in the 4th Qtr of 1938 in Reading, Berkshire. Eric passed away on the 5th October 1972 in Bucklebury, Reading, Berkshire.

Burial Details:

None

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the crew and their families (Jun 2025)

Other sources listed below:

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