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Operation: Circus 68 (1)
Date: 09th August 1941 (Saturday)
Unit: No. 452 Squadron (RAAF) (motto: Miundus Pro Nobis - 'Sweeping the world before us'). 11 Group
Type: Spitfire IIa
Serial: P7682 (2)
Code: UD-?
Base: RAF Kenley, Greater London
Location: Coubronne in Calais
Pilot: P/O Justin Hilary O'Byrne Aus/408022 RAAF Age 29. PoW No: 3735 Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan
REASON FOR LOSS:
Taking from RAF Kenley at 10:35hrs with 11 other 452 squadron Spitfires as part of the Kenley Wing.
Five wings of Spitfires numbering more than 200 fighters escorted five Blenheim bombers to attack a power station at Gosnay four miles of south-west of Béthune, France.
Heavy clouds caused abandonment of the Gosnay operation and the focus moved to a secondary target at Gravelines. At approximately 11:30hrs the aircraft was shot down near Coubronne in Calais, France. Justin O’Byrne and declared as MIA, on the 29th August 194141 the Red Cross informed the RAF that O’Byrne was a PoW.
He was captured immediately upon landing and taken to a hospital in St Omer where he remained for a short time before moving to the Luftwaffe Dulag in Frankfurt where he was allocated POW No.3735 and sent to Stalag Luft 3. Over the ensuing four years he was incarcerated in eight different POW camps. While an inmate at Sagan III Camp he was the ‘administration officer; for the Great Escape which ended in tragedy when 50 Allied escapee officers were recaptured and executed by the Gestapo. He was eventually liberated by Russian Forces on the 29th April 1945 and was repatriated back to No.11 Personnel Disposal and Reception Centre UK on the 13th May 1945. Following a short stay in hospital to recuperate he was repatriated back to Australia in August 1945 and arrived in Sydney on the 09th September 1945. Further details shown below
Two others were also shot down;
Sgt. Christopher Geoffrey Blomfield Chapman flying Spitfire IIa P7590 was shot down and killed by a Bf109 from 6/Jg26 over Salpenwick at 11:20hrs. Further details here.
Sgt. Gerald Barrington Haydon flying Spitfire IIa P8361 was also shot down by a Bf109 from 6/Jg26 over Bethune at 11:20hrs. He did manage to bale out but lost his life as the aircraft was too low. Further details here.
Details on the PoW image shown above L-R:
Fl/Lt. Sydney Thomas Wickham AUS/402268 RAAF - captured 04th May 1944 at Sid Barani in Egypt, (died on the 09th December 2015, age 99) (Maryland AH300). PoW No: 78 Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan.
P/O. Justin Hilary O’Byrne AUS/408022 RAAF, Spitfire P7682 , captured 09th August 1941. PoW No: 3735 Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan
Fl/Lt. Charles Keith Teulon Thompson AUS/404066 RAAF - captured 23rd February 1942 in Italy, Captured on the 05th March 1941 (died on the 28th October 2004, aged 85) Hurricane I L2100 PoW No: 32 Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan.
Fl/Lt. Josef Bryks (AKA Joe Ricks,) 82538 RAF Czeck pilot - Hurricane Z2508 pilot captured 17th June 1941 - died in a communist prison on the 11th April 1957, age 41),. PoW No: Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan..
Fl/Lt. Patrick Leslie Dixon AUS/40407 RAAF - captured 15th July 1941 North Sea, Netherlands (died on the 05th November 1996, age 80 Wellington Ic T2737), PoW No: 3657 Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan.
Fl/Lt. Tom Leslie Walker AUS/404271 RAAF - captured 10th September 1941 in Germany (died on the 14th April 2005, age 89) (Wellington IC N2805) PoW No: 3774 Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan.
(1) Circus: The codename Circus was given to operations of British Royal Air Force during World War II where bombers, heavily escorted by fighters, were sent over continental Europe to bring enemy fighters into combat. These were usually formations of 20 to 30 bombers escorted by up to 16 squadrons of escort fighters. Bomber formations of this size could not be ignored by the German Luftwaffe.
(2) To examine complete history of the Spitfire please see the Paul McGuiniss, RAAF Archives.
Burial and further details:
Fl/Lt. Justin Hilary O'Byrne survived the war. Born on the 01st June 1912 in Launston, Tasmania. After he left school at the age of 15 and found work at a textile factory. In 1929 he began working as a laboratory assistant at the Rapson Tyre and Rubber Company while studying chemistry and accounting part-time at Launceston Technical College. Enlisted on the 24th May 1940 in Hobart. Awarded his pilot wings on the 11th February 1941. After the war he became a politician and served as Senator for Tasmania. Justin O'Byrne retired from the Senate at the 1980 election, his term ending on the 30th June 1981. His term of 34 years is the longest by a Tasmanian in federal parliament, the third-longest Senate term after George Pearce and Walter Cooper, and the second-longest continuous Senate term after Pearce. From 1968 to 1971 he was a joint 'Father of the Senate', and from 1971 until his retirement he alone held this title. On the 26th January 1984,Justin O'Byrne was made an Officer of the Order of Australia 'for service to politics and governmen'. He passed away aged 81 on the 10th November 1993. and a state funeral was held at the Church of the Apostles in Launceston. He was the last surviving member of the 1947-1950 Senate.
Son of Patrick Augustus O'Byrne (died 09th December 1957, age 91) and Mary Elizabeth O'Byrne (née Maiden - died 17th November 1959, age 83) of 42 High Street, Launston, Tasmania, Australia.
Sgt. Christopher Geoffrey Blomfield Chapman. Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery (St. Omer) Plot 9. Row C. Grave 21. Born on the 27th January 1913 at Uralla, New South Wales, Australia, the son of Christopher Charles and Catherina Chapman, of Buderim Mt., Queensland, Australia.
Sgt. Gerald Barrington Haydon. Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery (St. Omer) Plot 9. Row C. Grave 20. Born on the 24th December 1921 at Southport, Queensland, Australiat. The son of Harry and Gertrude Haydon, of Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia.
Researched and dedicated to the relatives of these pilots with thanks to the extensive research by Paul McGuiniss, RAAF Archives, National Archives of Australia. National Archives Kew - AIR 27-1892-7/8.
KTY 20-07-2024
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