Operation: Operational Patrol

Date: 30th/31st October 1940 (Wednesday/Thursday)

Unit No: 101 Squadron, 2 Group (motto: Mens agitat molem - 'Mind over matter')

Type: Blenheim IV

Serial: T2246

Code: SR:?

Base: RAF West Raynham, Norfolk

Location: Dunster Wood, near Coleby

Pilot: Plt Off. Jack Milton Cave 43700 RAF Age 21. Killed

Obs: Sgt. John Gregson Hitchen 937501 RAFVR Age 21. Killed

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Clifford John Gooderick 751954 RAFVR Age 22. Killed (1)

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 17:10 hrs on an operational patrol to bomb a target in North Western Germany. It seems that they had bombed their target but during their return trip in poor visibility they crashed at around 23:00 hrs in a wood near Coleby. All three crew members were killed.

The brother of the pilot 26 year old, Flt Lt. Verner Grenville Cave 415059 RNZAF was also killed later in the war, on the night of the 31st March/1st April 1945. Flying Liberator IV KH245 with 37 Squadron on a bombing operation on the railway yards at Graz in Austria. Shot down by a Ju88 nightfighter over Yugoslavia - 4 crew members baled out and evaded capture, the pilot with 4 other crew were killed and buried at Belgrade War Cemetery.

(1) Newspaper report on the death of Sgt. Gooderick courtesy of the Hull Daily Mail, dated 2nd November 1940.

Burial details:

Plt Off. Jack Milton Cave. Waddington Churchyard (St. Michael). Grave inscription: "LOVED SON OF M.K. & S.M. CAVE WHAKATANE, N.Z. HIS BROTHER VERNON, FLT/LT. IS BURIED IN YUGOSLAVIA". Born during 1919 in Hamilton City, Waikato, New Zealand. Son of Milton Knight and Stella May (née Gordon) Cave of Whakatane, Auckland, New Zealand.

273 Flying hours logged and having completed 15 operational sorties.

Sgt. John Gregson Hitchen. Halifax Churchyard (All Saints), Section 5,103A. Born in the 1st Qtr of 1919 in Halifax, Yorkshire. Son of Irvine and Lily Ann (née Gregson) Hitchen of Halifax, Yorkshire, England.

Sgt. Clifford John Gooderick. Hessle Cemetery, Comp 49, Plot 14, Grave 2. Eldest son of Son of John Henry and Edith Hilda Gooderick of Hessle, Yorkshire, England.

Researched by Kelvin Youngs (Webmaster) 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, grave photograph courtesy Annie Newcombe (Dec 2018). Thanks to Antonio McDonald for the correction to the Liberator serial. Other updates by Aircrew Remembered (Apr 2025).

Other sources listed below:

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