AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

Info LogoAdd to or correct this story with a few clicks.
Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.
Check our Research databases: Database List

.

We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.

No. 14 Squadron Crest
30.03.1942 No. 14 Squadron Blenheim IV Z7627 Fl/Lt. Harry Kingwell Keck

Operation: Unknown

Date: 30 March 1942 (Monday)

Unit: No. 14 Squadron - Motto: 'I spread my wings and keep my promise' (an extract from the Koran suggested by the Emir of Transjordan)

Badge: A winged plate charged with a cross throughout and shoulder pieces of a suit of armour - approved by King George VI in May 1937. The badge represents a crusader in association with the Cross of St George because of the Squadron's close First World War ties with Diospolis, Palestine, the reputed burial place of the Saint, and its location in the Middle East at the time of submission to the Chester Herald.

Type: Blenheim IV

Serial: Z7627

Code: Not known

Base: Landing Ground 116 near Fuka, Egypt

Location: Near Ras Alam el-Rum, Egypt

Pilot: Fl/Lt. Harry Kingwell Keck Aus/400591 RAAF Age 29 - Killed (1)

Observer: Fl/Sgt. John Henry Hibbert 906246 RAFVR Age 21 - Killed (2)

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. Geoffrey Paul Rylands DFM 984571 RAFVR Age 22 - Killed (3)


We appeal to relatives of the crew with further information and/or photographs to please contact us via the Helpdesk


REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off from LG 116. Shot down in error by a Hurricane at 13:20 hours, crashed into Mediterranean near Ras Alam el-Rum.

Scale: 1" = 40 miles

Neither the Hurricane nor pilot are identified in official reports but the No. 14 Squadron history refers to the Blenheim as having been shot down by "South African Hurricanes".

Documents in the National Australian Archives ref: NAA A705, 163/40/41, record only that the Blenheim was shot down by a Hurricane and give no further information as to how this was known. In 1948 it was recorded that after an extensive search no trace of the aircraft or its crew had been found and as a result the members of the crew would be recorded as missing with no known grave.

BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS OF THE CREW

(1) Fl/Lt. Harry Kingwell Keck was born on 19 April 1912 at Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia the son of son of Reverend Harry Alfred George and Ethel Annie Keck later of 2 Erskine Street, Armadale SE3, Victoria. He was married to Barbara Mary Keck nee Burrowes of "Windermere" 40 Adelaide St, Malvern Victoria and later of 55 Talbot Crescent, Kooyong, Victoria. They had a son Michael born 22 May 1941.

Harry Keck was a Bank Officer prior to enlisting at Melbourne 18 September 1940 and he embarked 23 January 1941.

He had 1 sister and 6 brothers 4 of whom served with the AIF. His brother Frederick Abbey Keck was sadly killed 12 days after Harry on 11 April 1942. He was the Observer of the crew of Hampden AT221 and is buried at Rheinberg War Cemetery. Further details at www.aircrewremembered.com/roberts-robert.html

(2) Fl/Sgt. John Henry Hibbert was born in 1921 at Totnes, Devon the son of Albert John Hibbert and Bessie Mary Louise Hibbert nee Avery. Mr Hibbert was the landlord of the Carlyon Arms, Sandy Hill, St Austell Cornwall. John Henry Hibbert is commemorated on the War Memorial, Bethel Chapel, St Austell, Devon.

(3) Fl/Sgt. Geoffrey Paul Rylands DFM was born in 1920 at Bucklow, Cheshire the son of Geoffrey Glazebrook Rylands and Nora Lee Rylands nee Williams later of Howtown, Westmorland. His father was Company Secretary of Rylands Bros of Warrington and manufacturers of wire and wire products.

Geoffrey Paul Rylands attended Bromsgrove School in Worcestershire and later worked at the District Bank at Altrincham. He joined the RAFVR in 1940 and was posted to the Middle East in April 1941. He was awarded the DFM posthumously and announced in the London Gazette of 7 July 1942.

His brother Major Harry Glazebrook Rylands of the South Lancashire Regiment was killed 18 April 1945 aged 26: he is buried at Taukkyan War Cemetery, Burma (now Myanmar). Geoffrey and Harry Rylands are both commemorated on the Stretton War Memorial, Cheshire.


BURIAL DETAILS:

Fl/L.t Harry Kingwell Keck - Having no known grave he is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial - Panel 263

Fl/Sgt. John Henry Hibbert - Having no known grave he is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial - Panel 249

Fl/Sgt. Geoffrey Paul Rylands - Having no known grave he is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial - Panel 250

Left: Alamein Memorial



Researched by Aircrew Remembered researcher Roy Wilcock for all the relatives and friends of the members of this crew - March 2016

With thanks to the sources quoted below.

RW 02.03.2016

Pages of Outstanding Interest
History Airborne Forces •  Soviet Night Witches •  Bomber Command Memories •  Abbreviations •  Gardening Codenames
CWGC: Your Relative's Grave Explained •  USA Flygirls •  Axis Awards Descriptions •  'Lack Of Moral Fibre'
Concept of Colonial Discrimination  •  Unauthorised First Long Range Mustang Attack
RAAF Bomb Aimer Evades with Maquis •  SOE Heroine Nancy Wake •  Fane: Motor Racing PRU Legend
Acknowledgements
Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
Click any image to enlarge it

Click to add your info via ticket on Helpdesk •Click to let us know via ticket on Helpdesk• Click to buy research books from Amazon •Click to explore the entire site
If you would like to comment on this page, please do so via our Helpdesk. Use the Submit a Ticket option to send your comments. After review, our Editors will publish your comment below with your first name, but not your email address.

A word from the Editor: your contribution is important. We welcome your comments and information. Thanks in advance.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2024
Last Modified: 17 March 2021, 10:42

Monitor Additions/Changes?Click to be informed of changes to this page. Create account for first monitor only, thereafter very fast. Click to close without creating monitor