'Semper paratus'..Always Prepared
No.145836, Pilot Officer (Pilot) William Dick HAWKES
Aged 26
William Dick Hawkes was born in Swaffham Prior on 5th November 1916 (Newmarket Q4-1916 3B:746), son of Charles Peter and Ethel May HAWKES
(née MILLARD). He attended Soham Grammar School from 1928 to 1931.
In the 1939 register, at 6 Mill Hill, Swaffham Prior, were his father Charles P [23-4-1879] rate and rent collector; his mother Ethel M [2-2-1887]; sister Joan [7-12-1911] later LEESON and brother William D [5-11-1916] clerk County Account. Also Betty I WOLFE [25-5-1927] later GIBBS, presumed to be an evacuee. There is one closed record
below his Royal Aero Club, Aviator's Certificate In the 1939 register his family were at 6 Mill Hill, Swaffham Prior. Father Charles P [23-4-1879] rates and rent collector; his mother Ethel M [2-2-1887]; sister Joan [7-12-1911] shorthand typist, later LEESON; brother William D [5-011-1916] clerk to County Accountancy and Betty I WOLFE [25-5-1927] later GIBBS, presumably an evacuee. |
The crew were:- Pilot Officer William Dick Hawkes RAFVR - Pilot, 26; Sgt Edward Stanley Tompkins RAFVR - Flight Engineer, 21; Sgt George Robert Nipper RAFVR - Bomb Aimer, 28; Sgt Arthur Wilson Whiteoak RAFVR - Navigator, 32*; WO2 William Archibald McNair RCAF - Wireless Operator/Air Gunner, 20; Flt Lt Albert Douglas Coldicott DFM RAF - Air Gunner, 23; Sgt Joe Smith RAFVR - Air Gunner, 26; Sgt Hugh Robert Dick RAFVR - 2nd Navigator, 22* A remarkably full story can be seen here
and commemorated on the Swaffham Prior was memorial. click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details |