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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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500 Squadron Crest
17.02.1942 No. 500 Squadron Hudson V AM663 F/O. Philip R. Pollock

Operation: Anti-shipping patrol

Date: 17th February 1942 (Tuesday)

Unit: No. 500 Squadron (Coastal Command)

Type: Hudson V

Serial: AM663

Code: Not known

Base: RAF Binham, Norfolk

Location: North Sea

Pilot: F/O. Philip Rowland Pollock AUS/400290 RAAF Age 25. Missing - believed killed

Obs: Sgt. John Bernard Brady AUS/402635 RAAF Age 21. Missing - believed killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. David Hewitt 751261 RAFVR Age 21. Missing - believed killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. George Francis Webb 812243 RAF (Auxiliary) Age 25. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off from RAF Binham in Norfolk at 07:00 hrs to take part in an anti-shipping patrol off the Dutch coast.

It should have returned by 10:15 hrs but then a signal, believed to be from this aircraft, was received at 09:57 hrs some 30 miles off the coast of Cromer.

No trace of the aircraft was found and the crew are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

Burial details:

F/O. Philip Rowland Pollock. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 110. Born on the 16th October 1916 the son of Alfred William and Elizabeth Georgina Pollock, of 23 Maysia Street, Canterbury, Victoria, Australia. Prior to service worked as a clerk at the State Savings Bank.

Sgt. John Bernard Brady. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 112. Born on the 25th October 1920 the son of John Francis and Eileen Susan Brady, of 14 Carlisle Street, Rose Bay, New South Wales, Australia. Audit clerk - chartered accountancy, prior to service.

Sgt. David Hewitt. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 85. Son of William and Wilhelmina Hewitt, of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Fl/Sgt. George Francis Webb. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 76. Son of Charles and Alma Margaret Webb, of Maidstone, Kent and husband of Iris Kathleen Webb, of Maidstone, England.

For further details our thanks to the following sources shown below.

KTY - 11.03.2017

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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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