Operation: Sweep

Date: 23rd June 1942 (Tuesday)

Unit: No. 238 Squadron. 243 Wing. 211 Group (motto: Ad finem - 'To the end')

Type: Hurricane HB

Serial: BH233

Code: VK-V

Base: LG76 / LG07 Matruh West

Location: Sidi Omar

Pilot: P/O. Norman Robert Holmes NZ/405273 RNZAF Age 22. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

On this day age squadron was moving from LG76 to LG07.

Taking off at 10:20 hrs with three others on a fighter sweep over Maddelena - Sidi Omar in Libya.

Two failed to return, but we have not been able to positively name the other (some reports state Fl/Sgt. Stein).

25 year old, Fl/Lt. Frank De Beauchamp Collenette 87368 RAFVR was also hit but managed to crash land his Hurricane. Sadly he was killed a few days later on the 28th of June.

P/O. Norman Robert Holmes. Tobruk War Cemetery. Grave 9.A.11. Born on the 19th September 1919 in Katika. Educated at Mt. Albert Grammar School and Victoria University. A clerical cadet for P and T Department in Wellington. Enlisted at Levin as a pilot under training on 22nd December 1940. With No. 4 Elementary Flying Training School 09th February 1941. No. 1 Flying Training School 23rd March 1941. Pilot badge awarded on the 03rd May 1941 and commissioned on the 14th June 1941.

Embarked for England on the 22nd of July 1941. With No 3 Personnel Reception Centre 02nd September 1941. 56 Operational Training Unit 16th September 1941 flying the Hurricane. Joined 485 squadron on the 05th November 1841 and carried out 1 operational sortie. Embarked for the Middle East on the 22nd of March 1942. Ferried a Hurricane IIc to Kilo near Cairo on the 22nd of April 1942. Joined 238 squadron on the 04th June 1942. A total of 230 flying hours were logged. Son of Kenneth Mervyn Holmes (died 16th February 1957, age 60) and Sybil Annie Holmes (née Frodsham - died 03rd September 1972, age76), of Katikaki. Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Others:

Fl/Lt. Frank De Beauchamp Collenette. Alamein Memorial. Column 247. Son of Frank de Beauchamp Collenette and Marie Nora Collenette, of Oxford. His brother 22 year old W/O. Michael De Beauchamp Collenette 7422200 RAFVR, DFM, also fell.

W/O. Michael De Beauchamp Collenette. Frederikshaven Cemetery. Allied Plot. grave 38. Epitaph: 'Killed In Action Here After Fighting German Aggression For Three And A Half Years'.

Above - L-R: Rear; WH Ganderton, Henry Lindsay Saundercock NZ/405326, Jack Graham Stewart NZ/405337, RW King, PN McGregor, David Weston Wacher NZ/405347, James Garfield Lomax NZ/405289, Lloyd Henry Roper McCarthy NZ/404612. Centre; Noel Clement Holmes NZ/404988, TF Fenton, Donald Irvine Grant NZ/405253, GW Feilding, Cecil Dunn Milne, John Justin Neville McCarthy NZ/401470, David Ian McNarey NZ/405299, Douglas Robert Stewart 1652.
Front; Francis Campbell Carswell NZ/404457, JDM Heron, KH Gregory, DL Knoblock, PR Fenton, Norman Robert Holmes NZ/405273, Terence Barnes Pepper NZ/405318, J Keys (Courtesy Airforce Museum of New Zealand)

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to the extensive research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, Auckland Library Heritage Collection, Weekly News of New Zealand, Air Museum of New Zealand, Museum of Transport and Technology, Auckland, other sources as quoted below:

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