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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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41 Squadron Crest
01.06.1941 No. 41 Squadron IIa Spitfire P8163 Sgt. Eric E. Croker

Operation: Training

Date: 01st June 1941 (Sunday)

Unit: No. 41 Squadron - 13 Group

Type: Spitfire IIa

Serial: P8163

Code: EB-?

Base: RAF Catterick, Yorksshire

Location: East of Northallerton, Yorkshire

Pilot: Sgt. Eric Eugene Croker NZ/391826 RNZAF Age 24. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 20:40 hrs from RAF Catterick in Yorkshire. Some 40 minutes later in what has been describes as poor visibility crashed into the side of a hill some 5 miles east of of Northallerton (some say that it was near Osmotherley).

He survived and taken for treatment at Catterick Military Hospital with severe head injuries only to die the following morning at 06:00 hrs.

Burial details:

Sgt. Eric Eugene Croker. Catterick Cemetery. C. of E. Sec. Row M. Grave 18. Son of Eric Arthur Croker, and of Ethel Maude Croker, of Point Chevalier, Auckland, New Zealand. 325 flying hours logged and had completed some 41 operational sorties.

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 Cenotaph, Weekly News of New Zealand, Grave photo courtesy Dimitrios Corcodilos, Pilot photo courtesy of our friend Carl Briese of the Battle of Britain Monument. Other sources as quoted below:

KTY - 16.11.2017

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Acknowledgements
Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
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