AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

• Kracker Archive
• Allied Losses
• Archiwum Polish
• Paradie Canadian
• RCAF
• RAAF
• RNZAF
• USA
• Searchable Lists

Info LogoAdd to or correct this story with a few clicks.
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.
Check our Research databases: Database List

.

We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.

RNZAF Crest

Operation: Training

Date: 14 August 1944 (Monday)

Unit: No. 1 Service Flying Training School RNZAF

Type: Oxford I

Serial: NZ286

Code: -

Base: RNZAF Wigram, New Zealand

Location: Sabys Road, near Wigram

Pilot: Sgt. Robert Stuart Pettitt NZ/439407 RNZAF Age 27. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 16:10 hrs. on a steep turn and single engine practice.

26 year old LAC. Keith Edwin Hodge NZ/431233 RNZAF flying Oxford II NZ1284 who had taken off at 15:55 hrs. was taking part in the same exercise.

LAC. Hodge executed a steep starboard turn whilst at 2000 ft and lost height whilst doing so. Turning in the same direction 100 ft below was Sgt. Pettitt. During the turn they both collided.

NZ286 lost its tail and spun down at a steep angle. NZ1284 lost a portion of its starboard wingtip, went into a dive and partially recovered at about 50 ft before dropping a wing, turning over and crashed a mile south of NZ 286. Both pilots lost their lives.

Burial details:

Sgt. Robert Stuart Pettitt. Dunedin Cemetery (Anderson's Bay). Grave 24.3. Born on the 13th September 1916 at Dunedin. Enlisted in the RNZAF on the 01st August 1943 from the army. A self employed carpenter prior to service. Son of Robert Leslie and Winifred Mary Pettitt (née Stuart) and husband of Winifred June Pettitt (née Harvey), of Winton, Southland, New Zealand. 108 flying hours logged with 15 solo on the Oxford. His brother F/O. Ivan Alfred Pettitt NZ/415780 RNZAF also lost his life on the 14th May in the same year.

LAC. Keith Edwin Hodge. Oamaru Cemetery. Grave 99.71B. Born on the 07th May 198 at Oamaru. Worked as a draper for Hodges Ltd, his fathers business prior to enlisting on the 08th September 1943 from the army. Son of Arthur Edwin and Mabel Hodge (née Dewhirst) Husband of Jean Marie Hodge, of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. 107 flying hours logged with 17 solo on the Oxford.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of these pilots 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

Pages of Outstanding Interest
History Airborne Forces •  Soviet Night Witches •  Bomber Command Memories •  Abbreviations •  Gardening Codenames
CWGC: Your Relative's Grave Explained •  USA Flygirls •  Axis Awards Descriptions •  'Lack Of Moral Fibre'
Concept of Colonial Discrimination  •  Unauthorised First Long Range Mustang Attack
RAAF Bomb Aimer Evades with Maquis •  SOE Heroine Nancy Wake •  Fane: Motor Racing PRU Legend
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 MWO 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', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, 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.
Click any image to enlarge it

Click to add your info via ticket on Helpdesk •Click to let us know via ticket on Helpdesk• Click to explore the entire site
If you would like to comment on this page, please do so via our Helpdesk. Use the Submit a Ticket option to send your comments. After review, our Editors will publish your comment below with your first name, but not your email address.

A word from the Editor: your contribution is important. We welcome your comments and information. Thanks in advance.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2024
Last Modified: 08 February 2021, 23:01

Monitor Additions/Changes?Click to be informed of changes to this page. Create account for first monitor only, thereafter very fast. Click to close without creating monitor