Operation: Hanau

Date: 17/18th December 1944 (Sunday/Monday)

Unit: 692 Squadron

Type: Mosquito DH.98 XVI

Serial: ML959

Code: P3-?

Base: RAF Graveley, Cambridgeshire (formerly Huntingdonshire)

Location: At base, RAF Graveley

Pilot: Flt.Lt. Sidney Percival Brunt 133372 RAFVR Age 22. Killed

Nav: Flt.Sgt. Roger Joseph Sutherland R/177954 RCAF Age 26. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off from RAF Graveley at 16:53 hrs making up a total force of 44 Mosquito’s to create a ‘spoof operation in order to direct attention away from the main operations this night - 723 aircraft on an operation to Duisburg, 288 aircraft bombing Ulm.

Understood that on return, the pilot selected the flaps to up during an overshoot of the airfield. The Mosquito hit trees killing both crew members.

Sutherland Island in Croll Lake, Manitoba, Canada was renamed after Flt.Sgt. Sutherland in 1995

692 Squadron November 1944 (date from Wg.Cdr. Northrop's Sqn diary) - The photo is available at a higher resolution to relative - please contact us)

Rear row: F/O. Melbourne, F/O. Scholes, F/O. P.B. Doran (5), Fl/Sgt. Clark, F/O. Girvan, F/O. Massie, W/O. Archibold, Fl/Sgt. Vere, W/O. Crockes, W/O. Carton, Sgt. Ketley, Fl/Sgt. L.G. Williams, Fl/Sgt. Sutherland (2), F/O. Harker, F/O. Tubbs, F/O. S.P. Brunt (3), Sgt. J.A.Mc. Sturrock (1), Sgt. A.T. Wood, Sgt. Stockwell, Sgt. D. Lunn (6), F/O. Boothright, Sgt. Beckett.

Centre row: Fl/Lt. Drinkall, Fl/Lt. Hill, F/O. Earl, Fl/Lt. Kitchen, P/O. Maxwell, Sgt. Fossitt, W/O. Way, Sgt. Withers, Fl/Lt. Triggs, F/O. Wood, F/O. W.B. Smith, F/O. P.J.Q. Back, F/O. Wild, F/O. Hughes, P/O. Howell, Sgt. Hooper, Sgt. I.L.H. Ramage, P/O. A.A. Chandler, F/O. Hammersley, Sgt. J. Morrell, F/O. D.T.N. Smith, F/O. J.P. Morgan (4), F/O. Simpkin.

Front row: Fl/Lt. Northover, Fl/Lt. Momo, Fl/Lt. Huggett, Fl/Lt. Menage, Fl/Lt. J.A. Perry, Fl/Lt. Galbraith, Fl/Lt. Earnshaw, Fl/Lt. Crow, Fl/Lt. T.H. Galloway, Sq/Ldr. Brodie, Gp/Cpt. Menaul, W/Cdr. Northrop, Sq/Ldr. Wadsworth, Fl/Lt. J.E.L. Gover, Fl/Lt. W.G. Lockhart, Fl/Lt. Batten, Fl/Lt. G.D.T. Nairn (7), Fl/Lt. C.H. Burbridge, F/O. Mepham, Sq/Ldr. Hunter, Fl/Lt. Bradbury, Fl/Lt. G.R. Green, F/O. Horner.

Notes:

1: 19 year old Sgt. John Alexander Mckenzie Sturrock 1800054 RAFVR from Wood Green, Middlesex, England - killed 15th January 1945.
2: 26 year old Fl/Sgt. Roger Joseph Sutherland R/177954 RCAF from Manitoba, Canada - killed 17th December 1944.
3: 22 year old Fl/Lt. Sidney Percival Brunt 133372 RAFVR from Sussex, England - killed 17th December 1944.
4: 24 year old John Preener Morgan NZ/413881 RNZAF from Canterbury, New Zealand - killed 15th January 1945
5: F/O. Patrick Bryan Doran 144626 RAFVR - killed 07th February 1945
6: 23 year old Daniel Lunn 1482190 RAFVR from Rotherham, England - killed 01st January 1945
7: Fl/Lt. George Douglas Tolley Nairn 125980 RAFVR from Westminster, London, England - killed 01st January 1945.

Burial details:

Flt.Lt. Sidney Percival Brunt. Cambridge City Cemetery. Grave 15156. Son of Ralph Benjamin and Winifred Mabel Brunt, of Fernhurst, Sussex, England.

Flt.Sgt. Roger Joseph Sutherland. Brookwood Military Cemetery. Grave 56.A.5. Son of Wilfred and Suzanne Sutherland, husband of Emilie Sutherland, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Researched for and with information from Brandon Turenne, nephew of Flt.Sgt. Sutherland who contacted us in April 2016. Thanks to Geoffrey Martin for the update to the Squadron photograph date. Dedicated to the relatives of the crew with thanks to additional sources as quoted below:

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