LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Peter John Maxwell HAMILTON
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 912835 (RAFVR)
Born: Location, Date Unavailable
Enlisted in the RAF: Date Unavailable
Unit: No. 458 Squadron, RAF Station Holme-upon-Spalding Moor, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 458 Squadron Wellington aircraft Z1218), Belgium, 20 October 1940, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Charleroi Communal Cemetery, Charleroi, Hainaut, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Maxwell Hamilton and of Harriet Gilchrist Hamilton of Sandringham, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Date: 20-21 October 1941
Target: Antwerp
Total Force: Dispatched – 35, Attacking – 9
RAAF Force: No. 458 Dispatched – 7 Attacking – 5
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 12
Total Aircraft Lost: 3
RAAF Aircraft Lost: 1
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Pages 187
Wellington Z 1218 took off from RAF Holme-upon-Spalding Moor, Yorkshire, at 1839 hours on the night of 20 October 1941 to bomb the Antwerp Docks, Belgium. Seven aircraft from the Squadron took off on the mission, and of these Z1218 failed to return. This was the first operational loss of the Squadron. Post war it was established by a Missing Research and Enquiry unit that the aircraft crashed at Marchienne on 20 October 1941 presumably as a result of enemy action. Marchienne is located approximately 3 kms south west of Charleroi, Belgium.
The crew members of Z 1218 were:
Sergeant Percival George Brown (611158) (RAF) (Rear Air Gunner) PoW
Sergeant Andrew Young Condie (968155) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Sergeant Philip George Crittenden (400410) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer David Kimber Fawkes (102969) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Peter John Maxwell Hamilton (912835) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Thomas Jackson (995859) (RAFVR) (Front Air Gunner)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War Volume 2 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1941, Midland Counties Publications, Leicester, 1993
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Bibliography:
Alexander, P. (Peter) We Find and Destroy: history of No. 458 Squadron, The 458 Squadron Council, 1959