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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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489 Crest
14th May 1944 489 Squadron Beaufighter TF.X LZ432 F/O. Pettitt

Operation: Shipping

Date: 14th May 1944 (Sunday)

Unit: No. 489 Squadron - Coastal Command (motto: Whakatanagata kia kaha - 'Acquit yourselves like men, be strong'.)

Type: Beaufighter TF.X

Serial: LZ432

Code: P6-B

Base: RAF Langham, Norfolk

Location: North Sea off Frisian Islands

Pilot: F/O. Ivan Alfred Pettitt NZ/415780 RNZAF Age 21. Killed

Nav: F/O. Charles Harry Lowcock 151519 RAFVR Age 23. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off from RAF Langham at 11:30 hrs together with eleven others. The target being ran enemy convoy off the Frisian Islands.

LZ432 had been engaged on flak suppression duties in what was described as very poor visibility and after shooting up a minesweeper dived into the sea. Neither of the crews bodies were knowingly recovered.

Burial details:

F /O. Ivan Alfred Pettitt. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 263. Born on the 28th May 1922 at Dunedin. A postman for P and T Department prior to enlisting on the 19th October 1941. The son of Robert Leslie and Winifred Mary Pettitt (née Stuart) of North East Valley, Dunedin, New Zealand. 14 Operational sorties completed. His brother, Sgt. Robert Stuart Pettitt NZ/43940 RNZAF also lost his life in a training accident on the 14th August 1944.

F/O. Charles Harry Lowcock. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 207. Son of Charles Barker Lowcock and Mary Lowcock, of Dronfield, Derbyshire, England.

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, AWMM, Weekly News of New Zealand, other sources as quoted below:

KTY 08-02-2021

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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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