LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant George Stewart HOTCHKIS
Service No: 413386
Born: Thirroul NSW, 26 February 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 August 1941
Unit: No. 149 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Lakenheath
Died: Air Operations: (No. 149 Squadron Stirling aircraft EF495), North Sea, 28 September 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Daniel Stewart Hotchkis and Ada Louisa Hotchkis; husband of Joan Isabel Hotchkis, of Roseville, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Thirroul NSW
Remembered: Panel 193, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Woodward Memorial Park World War II Monument, Thirroul NSW
At 2005 hours on 27 September 1943 Stirling EF495 took off from Lakenheath to attack Hanover, Germany. At 0057 hours on the 28 September a weak distress signal was received indicating the aircraft was flying very low over the North Sea. Nothing further was heard and the aircraft failed to return to base.
The crew members of EF495 were:
Sergeant Clifford Bruce Andrews (41174) (RNZAF) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Clifford John William Bevan (50678) (RAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant J W Crowe (1585095) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Flight Sergeant George Stewart Hotchkis (413386) (Pilot)
Sergeant P Lyons (1320268) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) PoW
Flight Sergeant Bernard Joseph Schollum (421992) (RNZAF) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant D F Tweedie (1677594) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
In later statements Sergeants Crowe, Tweedie and Lyons reported that when they abandoned the aircraft the skipper was alive and well in the flying aircraft, and he endeavoured to try and fly the aircraft back to the UK. German documents later established that the aircraft crashed near Lingen and all the remaining crew members were killed. Post war searches revealed no trace of the missing four members and it was recorded that they had lost their lives at sea.
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, 166/18/193
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line