LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Paterson Clarence HUGHES DFC
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 39461 (RAF)
Born: Numeralla NSW, 19 September 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 January 1936 (at RAAF Station Point Cook VIC)
Enlisted in the RAF: 1937
Unit: No. 234 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Middle Wallop, Hampshire
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)
Died: Air Operations: Battle of Britain and the Germany Blockade (No. 234 Squadron Spitfire I aircraft X4009), Kent UK, 7 September 1940, Aged 23 Years
Buried: St James Churchyard, Sutton-in-Holdness, Hull UK
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Paterson Clarence and C. C. Hughes; husband of Kathleen Agnes Hughes, of Hull
Roll of Honour: Cooma NSW
Remembered: Battle of Britain Memorial, Westminster Abbey, London UK
Remembered: Paterson Clarence Hughes Memorial Tablet, Christ’s Church, Kiama NSW
Flight Lieutenant Hughes was an Australian Cadet trained for the RAF who embarked for the UK on 9 January 1937.
Flight Lieutenant Hughes’ Spitfire crashed at 1830 hours following a battle with German Do 17 aircraft over Kent on 7 September 1940.
References:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/36/115
Franks, Norman L R Royal Air Force Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War Volume 1 Operational Losses: Aircraft and Crews 1939-1941, Midland Publishing Leicester UK, 1997
Newton, Dennis A Few of the Few: Australians and the Battle of Britain, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT 2600, 1990
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line