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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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59 Squadron Crest
16.10.1941 No. 59 Squadron Hudson V AM740 TR-O P/O. Maurice H. Sherley-Price

Operation: Habo Patrol

Date: 16th October 1941 (Thursday)

Unit: No. 59 Squadron

Type: Hudson V

Serial: AM740

Code: TR-O

Base: RAF Thorney Island

Location: English Channel off France

Pilot: P/O. Maurice Henry Sherley-Price 62336 RAFVR Age 26. Missing

Obs: Sgt. Charles Ewart White 754875 RAFVR Age 22. Missing

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Hayward Fred Tomkins 755409 RAFVR Age 21. Missing

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Cubitt Henry Benjamin Page 1162363 RAFVR Age 25. Missing

REASON FOR LOSS:

The squadron rmoved to RAF Thorney Island becoming a general reconnaissance squadron, carrying out anti-shipping strikes, first with the Blenheims and then with Lockheed Hudsons.

Left: Hudson V Cockpit, right: pilot, P/O. Maurice Henry Sherley-Price (courtesy Sherborne School Archives)

On a Habo Patrol, (Le Havre - Boulogne) taking off from RAF Thorney Island in West Sussex at 18:50 hrs. Failed to return and believed to have been shot down in the English Channel off Boulogne.

Sherborne School, Dorset - Any further information that you are able to assist them with fallen former pupils from all wars, we would be pleased to pass onto them. 

Burial details:

P/O. Maurice Henry Sherley-Price. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 34. Further information courtesy Sherborne School Archives: Born 25th August 1915, son of Ernest Alfred Sherley-Price and Elizabeth Sherley-Price of Three Gates, Branksome Park, Bournemouth, England. Attended The Old Ride preparatory school, Bournemouth. Attended Sherborne School (Lyon House) May 1929-July 1933; 6th form. University College, Southampton. Articled to a solicitor.

Obituary in 'The Shirburnian', December 1944: 'Maurice Henry Sherley-Price was a very loyal and willing Shirburnian and friend. He had to face great disappointments owing to his late growth, and probably his House Cap for Cricket in his last term gave him more joy than anything else during his school days. Very early in his legal career he joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve and prepared himself for war.

Left: Runnymede Memorial (archives)

Sgt. Charles Ewart White. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 54. Son of Charles R. White, and of Margaret A. White, of Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, England.

Sgt. Hayward Fred Tomkins. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 53. Son of Frederick and Christiana H. Tomkins, of Ipswich, Suffolk, England.

Sgt. Cubitt Henry Benjamin Page. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 49. Son of Alfred Cubitt Page and Gertrude Rebecca Page, of Sprowston, Norfolk, England.

With thanks to Sherborne School Archives for additional information. For further details our thanks to the sources shown below.

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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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