Operation: Patrol

Date: 26th September 1944 (Tuesday)

Unit: No. 416 (City of Oshawa) Squadron (motto Ad Saltum paratus - Ready for the leap)

Type: Spitfire LF.1X

Serial: ML318 (note)

Code: DN-?

Base: ALG B.68 Le Culot, Belgium

Location: Pellendijk, Netherlands

Pilot: Fl/Lt. George Rudolf Patterson J/7440 RCAF Age 23. Injured PoW (Hospital)

REASON FOR LOSS:

This day is the conclusion of the Battle of Arnhem, part of Operation Market Garden, as the remnants of the British 1st Airborne Division made a desperate, costly withdrawal across the Rhine after failing to secure the bridge, a pivotal failure that delayed the Allied push into Germany.

Above: taken at RAF Tangmere on the 30th May 1944 (week before 'D' day
Top row (l-r) W/0. G.R Patterson (1), Fl/Lt. W.F Maso, (2) F/O. A.G Borland (3)
Lower row: P/O. W.H Palmer (4), Fl/Lt. R.D Forbes-Roberts (5), F/O. A ,R McFadden (6). (see below)

Taking off at 1159 hrs with 10 others from the first of 2 operational sorties on the day for 416 squadron.

Fl/Lt. Patterson was shot up by fighter pilot Major Wolfgang Späte of the Stab IV./JG 54, who was flying an Bf190A from Plantlünne airfield, Germany. Although the pilot managed to bale out he badly inured his left arm but landed safely. Picked up by German soldiers and made a PoW.

The remaining members of the squadron landed back at the advanced landing ground at 13:46 hrs.

Later he was taken to hospital where the German doctors amputated his art. On the 18th January 1945. he was repatriated to England. He returned to Canada on the 09th February 1945.

(note) Spitfire ML318 History: 39MU 15th May 194444 403 squadron 06th July 1944 Swung on landing and ground looped B.2 Bazenville AC 25th July 1944 F/O. CJ Tomlinson (RCAF) safe 410RSU 27th July 1944 127Wg 06th April 1944 AC 416 squadron shot down by fighters near Arnhem crashed Terborg (Pellendijk) 26th September 1944 FLt GR Patterson (RCAF) PoW

Burial details:

None - survived the war.

Fl/Lt. George Rudolf Patterson DFC. Born on the 04th July 1921 in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Enlisted in Vancouver on the 08th February 1941. After his training posted to 416 squadron on the 08th September 1943. Discharges from RCAF on the 20th August 1945. Worked for Armco Canada for 33 years becoming president in 1971. Husband of Joyce Kathleen, broth of Ruth Schroeder, Dr. L.A. Patterson, Marion Sarkissian, Charlotte Hamlin and Tina Mark
Passed away on the 16th December 2001 in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.
Credited with 3 enemy aircraft destroyed - 22nd May 1944 Fw190, 28th June 1944 Fw190, 14th July 1944 Bf109.

DFC citation: London Gazette Award effective 03rd September 1945

'This officer has completed numerous sorties. He has destroyed four enemy aircraft and nearly 100 enemy transport. As a flight commander he has achieved outstanding results and his daring in attacking ground targets has been an inspiration to other pilots in his squadron. Flight Lieutenant Patterson has at all times shown a high standard of devotion to duty'.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to Francois Dutik, National Archives Kew AIR-27-1816-17/18. Paradie RCAF Archives. Kraker Luftwaffe Archive.

Photograph Details

(1) W/0. George Rudolf Patterson J/7440 (details above)

(2) Fl/Lt. William Francis Mason J/6372 Born on the 05th February 1918 in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. Husband of Madeleine. Following his career with Canadair Bill volunteered with C.E.S.O., and was a founding member of Oak Bay Probus. Died 02nd December 2005, of Smiths Falls, Ontario,

(3) F/O. Alexander George Borland J/38156. Born on the 18th May 1923 in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Son and Jessie Borland Canada. Spitfire MJ575 Killed on the 25th December 1944, age 21. S hot down by a P-47 Thunderbolt bearing usual American markings but believed to be flown by an enemy pilot

(4) P/O. William Hewitt Palmer J/19648. Born on the 02nd November 1920 in Chase, British Columbia, Canada. Enlisted ib Ontario on the 17th March 1942, Died 15th July 1968, age 47. Son of Thomas Hedley Palmer (died 1857, age 63) and Mary Martine Palmer (née Bradley - died 1983, age 87) Husband of Marjorie Ellen Palmer (née Geddes - died 2006, age 90) of Kamloops and Salmon Arm, British Columbia.

(5) Fl/Lt. Richard Drummond Forbes-Roberts. Born on the 18th July 1918 in Saskatchewan. Son of Herbert and Melissa (née Jefferson) Forbes-Roberts. Growing up on the prairies. I n 1938, Dick entered the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, which he attended until the onset of the war. He trained as a fighter pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force and after marrying Dorothy Innes Hopkins in 1941, Dick was sent overseas where he served with distinction, flying Spitfires while stationed in England and France. In 2014, the government of France presented him with the French Legion of Honour Award for his part in helping to liberate their country. After the war, Dick remained in the service and was commander of Royal Canadian Air Force bases in eastern Canada. He retired from the RCAF in 1965. The family moved to Vancouver, BC where Dick worked as Student Placement Officer with Canada Manpower. He retired in 1980. Predeceased by Dorothy, his wife of seventy years. Died on the 24th April 2015, age 96, of Vancouver, British Columbia.

(6) F/O.'Dick' Allan Robert McFadden J/8416 Born on the 29th July 1918 in Fort Macleod, Canada. n April of 1942, he crashed in French West Africa and was interned in Timbucto until December of 1942. Upon release from internment he returned to the UK and flew Spitfires with 416 Squadron through ""D"" day and late 1944. He then returned to Canada and married Marjorie Lenore Wilson. They resided in Edmonton and Saskatoon while Allan attended university where he obtained his BSA in agriculture. They came to Lethbridge in 1949 where Allan was employed at the Canada Agriculture Research Station. In 1951 he joined Oliver Chemical Company of Lethbridge and remained with them until retirement in 1976. They then moved to Wasa, BC until 1984, at which time they retuned to Lethbridge.
Son of Archie and Louise McFadden (née Olmstead). Husband of Marjorie Lenore McFadden (née Wilson - died 2005, age, 84) Allan died on the 29th July 2007, age 88 of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

Other sources as quoted below:

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