UK1677 Accession Number: UK1677

Description

England, RAF Hartford Bridge, 31 July 1944. Four Australian aircrew who fly Douglas Boston Mk.III light bombers of No.88 Squadron (Hong Kong) Royal Air Force (RAF) in the Second Tactical Air Force in front of a Boston with nose art "BEER IS BEST".

From left to right: Navigator 426300 Flight Sergeant Raymond Maxwell Brockhurst of Nambour, Queensland; Air Gunner 413122 Flying Officer Thomas McCauley Hood of Forbes NSW, (lost on operations over France on 5 August 1944); Pilot 408609 Pilot Officer (later Flying Officer) Thomas Henry Simpson DFC, Morpeth NSW, who received his Distinguished Flying Cross from the King when his Majesty visited the Squadron. FO Simpson was lost on operations France on 5 August 1944; Pilot 408608 Warrant Officer Frederick Delamotte Murphy, North Bondi, NSW.

The nose art behind them consists of a large wooden beer keg superimposed over a rectangular background colour, with a tap dispensing beer into a foamy topped tankard of beer. On the front and side of the key is marked 'XXX'. Immediately behind the tally of 68 missions conducted up to this point by the aircraft. A dull matt red painted individual aircraft letter 'B' has been applied immediately to the right of the mission markers. With the letter 'B' being known in the phonetic alphabet used by the RAF at the time as 'B-Beer' this is likely why the crew chose this particular theme.

Note on the second row of aerial bomb shaped mission markers there is a group of white coloured 'L' shaped emblems. These represent four smoke making missions which 88 Squadron RAF conducted to support the massive 6 June 1944 'D-Day' invasion of Normandy.

For this the bomb bays of their Douglas Boston bombers were temporarily fitted special smoke-laying equipment to create protective smoke screens at extreme low level (between sea-level and 30 metres above the water) between the German defences and the Allied ships and landing craft offshore. These important 'battlefield obscuration' missions to protect the Allied ships and troops exposed their aircraft to both enemy fire and that of Allied fire support assets including battleships, cruisers and destroyers.

As part of this smoke laying equipment fitted inside the bellies of their Boston light bombers, a pair of 'L' shaped pipes protruded downwards from the bomb bay, hence their inclusion in the bomb mission markers.

Of note in the image is that the navigator on the far left, Raymond Brockhurst, is not wearing the familiar dark blue RAAF uniform but the lighter blue-grey uniform of the Royal Air Force, complete with AUSTRALIA titles on his upper sleeves. The same RAF tunic is being worn by him in a portrait in AWM image UK1676. Known affectionately to his family as "Max", he celebrated his 21st birthday flying air support at Normandy on 15 June 1944, as his family placed a congratulatory message on page 6 of the Brisbane Courier-Mail newspaper on Brisbane, on Thursday 15 Jun 1944. His family had published: "Congratulations and best wishes for your 21st birthday, June 15th, 1944. Our thoughts are ever with you. Chin up and keep smiling. Love from Mother, Father, Sisters & Brother, at Palmwoods".

The Memorial holds a collection of items of his including in the collection as PR01670 and an AWM65 biographical file also held by the AWM (AWM2019.8.733). Whilst a Navigator with 88 Squadron (Hong Kong) Squadron, he flew a total of 36 day and 9-night operations, hitting a range of enemy targets including troop concentrations, gun sites, and fuel dumps.

Another portrait of Warrant Officer Frederick Murphy (1915-1968) is held as UK1675. Murphy's mother was Winifred Kate Crocker Murphy, and his father was 398 Corporal Frederick Marvel of the 4th Battalion Australian Imperial Force (AIF). At the age of 23, Marvel was killed at the Battle of Lone Pine between 6-9August 1915. He is buried is buried at Lone Pine cemetery. Frederick Murphy's took his stepfather Duncan Hugh McCallum Murphy's surname.

Both FO Thomas Hood (Air Gunner) and FO Thomas Henry Simpson DFC (pilot) along with their two RAF crewmates were killed in the early morning of 5 August 1944 when their Boston bomber, serial BZ425, was lost on a night offensive patrol against troop and transport movements southwest of Caen, France. Their remains were recovered and laid to rest at Banneville-La-Campagne war cemetery, Calvados, France.

The AWM holds another image of Hood and Simpson taken on 17 February 1944 as UK1059 and a portrait of Simpson in UK1674.