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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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440 (City of Ottawa) Squadron
21.01.1945 440 (City of Ottawa) Squadron, RCAF Typhoon Ib PD601 Fg Off. Percy H. Kearse

Operation: Armed Recce, Montfoort, Netherlands

Date: 21st January 1945 (Sunday)

Unit No: 440 (City of Ottawa) Squadron, RCAF, 143 Wing, 2nd Tactical Air Force

Type: Typhoon Ib

Serial: PD601

Code: I8:X

Base: ALG B.78 Eindhoven, Netherlands

Location: Montfoort, Netherlands

Pilot: Fg Off. Percy Harold Kearse J25840 RCAF Age 20. KiA

REASON FOR LOSS

On the 21st January 1945 nine Typhoons from the Sqn took off from B.78 at Eindhoven at 12:35 hrs on a bombing mission near Montfoort in the Netherlands.

Fg Off. Kearse’s Typhoon was seen to explode over the target area immediately after bomb release. He was not seen to abandon the aircraft. The aircraft wreckage fell onto a house at the southern end of Montfoort at approximately 13:10 hrs.

A body was found by local inhabitants which was initially buried in the local church cemetery at Montfoort, Holland on the 6th February 1945. His remains were identified from an identity disk found in the burnt out wreckage when the village was liberated a few days later.

Burial details:

Above: Grave marker for Fg Off. Percy Harold Kearse (Courtesy of Michel Beckers)

Fg Off. Percy Harold Kearse. Recovered and buried in the Jonkerbos War Cemetery 18.F.6 on the 4th December 1947. Inscription: 'ALL HE HAD, HE GAVE'. Born on the 8th February 1922. Son of Harold (deceased) and Emily (née Fox) Kearse of Burlington, Ontario. Husband of Dorothy (née Kane) Kearse, of Stirling, Ontario, Canada.

Researched by Ralph Snape and dedicated to this pilot and his family.

Other sources as quoted below:

RS 23.06.2023 - Initial upload

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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 Captain 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', Andrew Mielnik: Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Polish graves: https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/, PoW Museum Żagań, 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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