LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Phillip Charles Copeland KERR
Service No: 405106
Born: Nanango QLD, 26 August 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 January 1941
Unit: No. 464 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 464 Squadron Mosquito aircraft HX912), Belgium, 9 October 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Antwerp (Schoonselhof) Cemetery, Antwerpen, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Joseph Copeland Kerr and Emily Francis Kerr, of Harrisville, Queensland. Australia
Roll of Honour: Harrisville QLD
Remembered: Panel 109, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Mosquito HX912 took off from RAF Sculthorpe at 1116 hours on the 9 October 1943 to attack the aero engine works at Woippy near Metz, France. Twelve aircraft from the Squadron took part in the raid and two of these including HX912 failed to return.
The Operations Record Book recorded: “The weather was hopeless over the sea, coast and target, with very poor visibility and ten- tenths cloud at 500 feet. One aircraft (Flying Officer Bruce Irvine Crofts (404745)) bombed the target through clouds while others attacked minor targets. An ME110 was claimed damaged. There was considerable flak in the coastal area and several of our aircraft were hit. HX912 was last seen in a shallow dive towards the target having taken over as lead aircraft from the CO. It was characteristic of this crew to be certain of their position when asked to take over by Wing Commander Meakin. In them we lose one of out best crews. Flight Lieutenant Kerr had been with the Squadron since August 1942. Everybody feels the loss very keenly.”
The crew members of HX912 were:
Flying Officer Bernard John Ewart Hannah (403446) (RNZAF) (Navigator)
Flight Lieutenant Phillip Charles Copeland Kerr (405106) (Pilot)
No. 464 Squadron lost Mosquito HP850 (Flight Lieutenant Robert Winstone Smith (42902) (RAF) (Pilot)) on 9 October 1943.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/22/126
Bibliography:
Lax, M. (Mark) and Leon Kane-Maguire The Gestapo Hunters: 464 Squadron RAAF 1942-5, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 1999
Vincent, D. (David) Mosquito Monograph: A history of Mosquitoes in Australia and RAAF operations, David Vincent Highbury SA 5089, 1982