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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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264 Squadron Crest
04th September 1940 No. 264 Squadron Defiant I N1628 F/O. O'Malley

Operation: Night intruder patrol

Date: 04th September 1940 (Wednesday)

Unit: No. 264 Squadron. 12 Group (motto: 'we Defy')

Type: Defiant I

Serial: N1628

Code: PS-?

Base: RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey

Location: Northorpe, Lincolnshire

Pilot: F/O. Derek Keppel Coleridge O'Malley 72475 RAFVR Age 29. Killed

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Lauritz Andrew Woodney Rasmussen NZ/391868 RNZAF Age 18. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off from RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey and failed to gain height.

The aircraft crashed at 22:05 hrs 3 miles west of the airfield. No cause was established.

Burial details:

F/O. Derek Keppel Coleridge O'Malley. Kirton-in-Lindsey Cemetery. Block A. Grave 181. Born on the 07th November 1910 at 14A Northcote Avenue, Ealing, the son of Barret Lennard Albemarle O'Malley and of Lorna O'Malley (née Coleridge) and husband of Rachel Mary Genevieve O'Malley (née MacDonald), of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. They married shortly after the outbreak of the war. Rachel's brother, Major Andrew David Macdonald 126497 of the 5th Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers was killed on the 16th February 1945 and buried at Milsbeek War Cemetery in the Netherlands. (F/O. O'Malley was a Batchelor of Arts, Oxford).

Sgt. Lauritz Andrew Woodney Rasmussen. Kirton-in-Lindsey Cemetery. Block A. Grave 182. Born on the 10th September 1921 at Auckland, the son of Frederick Woodney Rasmussen and Annie Shaw Rasmussen (née Ingram), of Remuera, Auckland, New Zealand. Prior to enlisting on the 18th December 1939 worked as a shop assistant for J.R McKenzies Ltd of Auckland. Thought to have§ been the youngest RNZAF member to be killed during the war. Just 19 flying hours logged and thought to have completed just the one operational sortie having just joining the squadron from 5 Operational Training Unit on the 29th August. The CWGC list him incorrectly as a pilot. Furthermore many list his christian name as Laurie, a relative informed Errol Martyn that Lauritz was the correct spelling.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to Jenifer Lemaire and 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, other sources as quoted below:

KTY 14.01.2020

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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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