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Operation: Patrol.
Date: 7th September 1940.
Unit: 234 Squadron
Type: Spitfire I.
Serial: X4009.
Coded: AZ-?
Base: RAF Middle Wallop, Hampshire
Location: Bessels Green, Kent.
Pilot: Fl/Lt. Paterson Clarence Hughes DFC. 39461 RAF Age 23. Killed.
REASON FOR LOSS:
Taking off on an interception scramble at 17:35 hrs with 11 others to attack enemy fighters and bombers flying at 20,000 ft. between London and Brighton.
The squadron claimed 3 x Me109's, 1 x Heinkel 111 and 1 x Do.17 destroyed with 1 x Me109 probably destroyed, 1 x Me109 damaged.
One month after his wedding, Pat Hughes was killed when the Dornier 17 he was attacking blew up with such force that it wrecked his Spitfire, his aircraft crashed into the ground at Darks Farm, Bessels Green, Kent.
In twenty-four days of intense combat he had accounted for fifteen enemy aircraft and shared in the destruction of others. He was awarded the DFC. posthumously.
Also 28 year old, Sq/Ldr. Joseph Somerton O'brien 34171 RAF flying Spitfire I P9466 was shot down over Biggin Hill and killed, He was also classed as an 'ace' with 5 confirmed enemy aircraft.
The remainder of the squadron returned safely to base by 19:15 hrs.
Grave photograph kindly supplied by Anthony Gilroy - August 2018
Burial Details:Buried on the 13th September 1940.
Fl/Lt. Paterson Clarence Hughes DFC. Sutton-On-Hull Churchyard, (St. James). Yorkshire. Row G. Grave 4. Son of Paterson Clarence and C. C. Hughes, husband of Kathleen Agnes Hughes, of Hull, England. Grave inscription reads: "And In Loving Memory Of His Wife Kathleen Who Died 28th June 1983 Aged 66".
Sq/Ldr. Joseph Somerton O'brien DFC. MiD. St. Mary Cray Cemetery. Plot E. Division 3. Grave 131. Born on the 09th April 1912 in Calcutta, India. Born on the 09th April 1912 in Calcutta, India Son Major Wulstan Hubert O'Brien (killed 07th February 1917, age 33), and Edith Muriel O'Brien (née Somerton - died in 1971). Husband of Marguerite Josephine (married 09th July 1938, née O'Reilly - died 15th December 1996), of Herne Bay, Kent, England.
National Archives Kew Air-27-1439-9/10.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember
them. - Laurence
Binyon
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