Flying Officer H Haswell
Hugh Haswell
- Rank
- Flying Officer
- Squadron
- No 59 Squadron
- School
- St John's College
- Fate
- Killed in action, 25 July 1940
From the book
The Dreaded Telegram
On July 25th, eleven weeks after AC Heath was killed, 21 -year -old Flying Officer Hugh Haswell who had been with the squadron since late June, and his crew were shot down while searching for survivors from “SS Weknes”. The Bristol Blenheim’s operational vulnerability, illustrated by 113 aircrew and 47 aircraft being lost to enemy fire during those 11 weeks. Haswell’s parents Hugh and Ann received a telegram at their Johannesburg home on July 27th advising he was “Missing as a result of Operations against the Enemy”, unaware of that statistic
The Dreaded Telegram
Five South African pilots served on No 59 Squadron, Flying Officer Haswell, one of four who lost their lives was educated at St Johns College and commissioned as a Pilot Officer in September 1938 at the same time as another South African, Ian Bruce David Errol Hay. Haswell’s service number suggests he may have been a Cambridge University Air Squadron member. Their 1940 Flying Officer appointments were announced in “The London Gazette” on May 28th at the same time as Anthony Ellerton Fry and Claude Waller Goldsmith. IBDE Hay was the only one to survive the war.