LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Clive Henry PHILLIPS
Service No: 402537
Born: Neutral Bay NSW, 23 August 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 September 1940
Unit: No. 158 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station East Moor
Died: Air Operations: (No. 158 Squadron Halifax aircraft W1215), Netherlands, 6 August 1942, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Oldebroek General Cemetery, Gelderland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Herbert William and Catherine Alice Root Phillips, of Mosman, New South Wales, Australia; husband of Dorothy Eileen Phillips, of Hampstead, London, England
Roll of Honour: Mosman NSW
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2213 hours on the night of 5 August 1942 Halifax W1215 took off from East Moor detailed to bomb Bochum, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 0128 hours on 6 August 1942, at Oldebroek (Gelderland), 12kms north north west of Epe, Netherlands. Two crew members were killed in the crash and the others survived of whom four were taken prisoner and one evaded capture.
The crew members of W1215 were:
Sergeant Joseph Albert Byrne (954513) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Sergeant Derek Heaton Furness (571405) (RAF) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Pilot Officer Leslie Vincent Harvey (400239) (Observer) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 6 March 1946
Pilot Officer John Edwin Marshall (117005) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer Clive Henry Phillips (402537) (Pilot)
Sergeant E G Price (R/84592) (RCAF) (Air Bomber) Evaded capture
Sergeant W A Thompson (1310697) (RAFVR) (Mid Gunner) PoW
In a PoW report the then Flight Lieutenant Harvey stated: “A night fighter attacked after the target was bombed. The aircraft was on fire and the Captain ordered bale out which was acknowledged by all including the Rear Gunner who said he was wounded and could not move. The Captain repeated the bale out order. I baled out at 15,000 feet and leaned later that four others also survived. The aircraft appeared under control but was badly on fire. I walked from the crashed aircraft as quickly as possible. By daylight my condition led me to ask at Dutch farm door help. They attended to my wounds, gave me a meal and sent for the Germans. I was released by British troops and visited the graves of Phillips and Marshall on 9 May 1945.”
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, 163/51/146