Handley Page Hampden Mk.I AE243: Built by English Electric Co., Preston,Converted to Hampden T.B.I (Torpedo Bomber). Issued 21/07/1941 to 455 Squadron, RAAF, Coded UB-B
Took off from RAF Swinderby at 18:30 on 07/11/1941 on a "Rover" patrol. Tasked (with three other aircraft from 455 Squadron) to bomb and machine gun searchlight and Flak/AAA batteries in the Aachen area. Lost on combat operations on night of 07-08/11/1941 when failed to return. Believed lost on patrol near Cologne (Köln), North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
All four crew killed.
It is possible that the Hampden came down in the area of Heverlee, Leuven. Belgium, as all four crew were buried at the GWGC Cemetery there. However, as this cemetery was established post-war (1946), so it is more likely that they were killed in the Cologne area on 8/9/1941, and re-buried in Heverlee in 1946
Sergeant McGarvey (at left) was aboard Handley Page Hampden I, AE243, when it took off at 18.30 hours on 7th November 1941 on a mission to the Cologne area of Germany.
The aircraft failed to return and Sergeant McGarvey along with the rest of the crew were initially reported as "Missing"
After six months had passed he was presumed to have lost his life.
The aircraft had crashed in Belgium and the Crew had been laid to rest in St. Trond Cemetery.
In 1947 the bodies of Sergeant McGarvey, who was 20 years old and the Son of George Edward and Ellen McGarvey, along with other members of his crew were exhumed and reburied in the British Cemetery at Louvain, Heverle, Belgium
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