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.
Check our Research databases: Database List
.

---

We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.

---

31.05.1940 No. 264 Squadron Defiant I L6968 P/O. Guy L. Hickman

Operation: Patrol, Dunkirk - Calais

Date: 31st May 1940 (Friday)

Unit: No. 264 Squadron

Type: Defiant I

Serial: L6968

Base: RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire

Location: North Sea, Off De Panne, Belgium

Pilot: P/O. Guy Lewis Hickman 42225 RAF Age 19. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: L.A.C. Alfred Fidler 743039 RAFVR Age 27. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Another disastrous day for 264 Squadron. During this patrol the squadron lost 5 aircraft with another damaged but landed at Manston and repairable.

L6968 was shot down by Bf109’s off De Panne at 14:40 hrs. Both crew members are understood to have bailed out, but were lost.

264 Squadron pilots - early May 1940. L to R (rear): P/O. G.L. Hickman (Killed 31st May 1940 - age 19), Fl/Lt. N.G. Cooke D.F.C. (Killed 31st May 1940 - age 26), Sq/Ldr. P.A. Hunter D.S.O. (Killed 24th August 1940 - age 27), P/O. M.H. Young, P/O. G.H. Hackwood (Killed 20th November 1940 - age 20), P/O. E.G. Barwell, P/O. S.R. Thomas, P/O. D. Whitley (Killed 28th August 1940 - age 21). (front): Fl/Sgt. E.R. Thorn, P/O. D.H.S. Kay (Killed 19th October 1944 - age 25), Sgt. A.J. Lauder, P/O. R.W. Stokes (courtesy Johny Recour)

In June 2007 relatives were invited over to remember their lost ones at a memorial service in Belgium. Johny Recour with Sq/Ldr Doug Tidy had been the instigators for this touching ceremony. Wreaths were laid at the graves by both the Belgium’s and the Squadron representatives and families.

L-R: André Santy (Chairman of the West Flemish Association of R.A.F. and S.A.A.F. Veterans), Johny Recour, Anthony Hickman and family behind the crew graves 2007. (courtesy Johny Recour)

Crew graves at Coxyde (Koksijde) Military Cemetery, Belgium (courtesy Johny Recour)

Burial Details:

P/O. Guy Lewis Hickman. Coxyde (Koksijde) Military Cemetery, Belgium. Grave IV.M.16. Son of John Lewis Hickman and Elsie Kate Hickman, of Bicester, Oxfordshire, England.

LAC. Alfred Fidler Coxyde (Koksijde) Military Cemetery, Belgium. Grave IV.M.15. Son of Alfred and Mary Fidler, husband of Dorothy Grace Fidler, of Godalming, Surrey, England.

Researched for relatives of the pilot with thanks to the following for further information, Johny Recour in Belgium, Peter Cornwell - 'Battle of France Then and Now', Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses' Vol. 1, Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2025 Last Modified: 11 March 2021, 12:09

Monitor Additions/Changes?Click to be informed of changes to this page. Create account for first monitor only, thereafter very fast. Click to close without creating monitor