In
1935, while awaiting replies he had
submitted to both the Air Force and
the Navy, he worked for a period at
Saunders' Jewelers in Sydney. After
being selected for both services he
chose the Air Force and began his
training as a Cadet Pilot at RAAF
Point Cook in Victoria. The smiling
photo below was taken whilst he was
a cadet at Point Cook. After
graduation, he was selected with a
number of others to transfer to the
RAF under a special Short Service
Commission Scheme. They sailed for
England aboard the "SS NARKUNDER" on
9 January 1937, along with about a
dozen or so other recently qualified
RAAF pilots. The ship docked at
Tilbury on 19 February, which is
also the day he appears with the
rank of Flying Officer in the Air
Force Lists for the first time. His
address on the ship's passenger
manifesto was given as "Air
Ministry, Australia House",
occupation, "Air Pilot". After
two years training as a fighter
pilot he was a member of 64
Squadron, RAF at Church Fenton when
hostilities began in 1939.
photo
credit:
the RAAF Museum, Point Cook,
Victoria, Australia.
Pat was promoted to
Acting Flight Lieutenant in
November 1939 as a Flight
Commander to the newly formed 234
Squadron at RAF Leconfield in East
Yorkshire. Initially, they were
equipped with Fairey Battles,
Bristol Blenheims and Gloster
Gauntlets, but in March 1940 they
were re-equipped with Spitfires.
In June 1940, 234 squadron was
transferred to Cornwall. It was
here, in Bodmin Registry Office,
on 1 August 1940, that Pat's
marriage to Kathleen (Kay)
Brodrick of Hull took place. It is
thought that he had possibly met
Kay at the Beverley Arms Hotel in
Beverley, only in the February,
when he was briefly stationed at
RAF Leconfield. It would
seem, upon his posting to
Cornwall, Kay simply travelled
down to meet him and they married
there, in Bodmin.
The Battle of
Britain began in July 1940, and
Pat was credited with the first
confirmed kill for the squadron
with the shooting down of a Ju 88
near Lands End. One of the duties
of 234 Squadron was to provide air
cover for 10 Squadron (RAAF) based
at Mount Batten. In August, 234
Squadron was transferred to Middle
Wallop in Hampshire. During the
next two months with the Battle of
Britain at its height, Pat was the
driving force behind the
achievements of 234 Squadron. His
close-in and aggressive tactics
were responsible for many of 234's
successes.
In one of the most
costly engagements of the Battle
of Britain, on August 15th, Pat
scored a double with two
Messerschmitt 110's. He scored
double successes again, on 18th
and 26th August, for which he was
awarded his DFC. Another couple of
weeks of highly intensive aerial
warfare followed, with several
sorties a day and no rest or days
off for most pilots, takes Pat's
story up to the end of the first
week in September.
September the 7th
was a major turning point in the
whole battle, effectively the day
when the Luftwaffe gave up
attacking airfields and the RAF in
particular, and made their first
huge, daylight raid on London.
Hindsight and history would also
show that this was the day when
the RAF could be said to have won
the battle, and therefore staved
off immediate invasion. But that
didn't become clear for a few more
weeks, and it was a long while
before history tells us that the
immediate plans for invasion had
been postponed to at least 1941.
And tragically, Pat, as with all
his fellow pilots killed in those
weeks of battle, was never to know
all that, just what a vital
difference they had made.
It was in the late
afternoon of the 7th September,
when 234 Squadron ran into a force
of 60 German aircraft consisting
of Do 17's and escorting Bf 109's.
Pat was leading his Section in
Spitfire X4009 and dived to attack
the bombers. The official report
states that after attacking a
bomber from close range, a large
section of the bomber broke away
and appeared to hit the Spitfire,
which crashed in the village of
Bessels Green. Pat's body, thrown
clear of his aircraft, came down
into a garden in the nearby
village of Sundridge. The official
record shows that Pat died around
18.30 hrs. Pats wife, Kay, was a
widow after only five weeks of
marriage.
However, we now know
that the action was also witnessed
from the ground, and Tony Hall, of
Sundridge, writes to tell me that
his own father always maintained
that, as he watched the aerial
combat and ensuing dogfights
taking place right over his house,
it was his belief that Pat
deliberately rammed the Dornier in
order to bring it down. Tony has
had a lifelong interest in the
Battle of Britain, and of course,
thence in Pat Hughes in
particular. His father's wish that
a memorial to Pat may one day be
located in the village where he
fell has come to fruition,
courtesy of the Battle of Britain
Memorial Society. This was
unveiled on the 65th anniversary
of Pat's death in 2005. Pat's
former colleague, Wing Commander
Bob Doe, now aged 86 and in poor
health himself, remembers Pat with
affection, was unable to attend
the ceremony. Bob mentions Pat and
his exploits in the acclaimed
book, "Fighter Pilot", which Bob
wrote after the war.
Pat was credited
with 14 downed enemy aircraft,
plus other shared planes, making
him the highest scoring
Non-British Fighter Pilot in the
Battle of Britain. One fact that
came to light, a great deal later,
was that Pat is also credited with
shooting down a very well-known
German airman indeed, none other
than Oberleutnant Franz von Werra,
the famous "One That Got Away",
something else Pat himself would
never know about.
Von Werra was the
German Luftwaffe fighter ace, who
as a prisoner escaped from British
POW camps several times, only to
be recaptured every time. After an
escapade in which he very nearly
nicked a Spitfire to fly home in,
along with other notorious German
escapees, von Werra was shipped
off to Canada - our version of
Colditz, I suppose - and finally
made his successful escape from a
moving train at night into deep
snow and thence to cross the
frozen St Lawrence River in a
stolen rowing boat to freedom in
the US ... just a few months
before America came into the war.
He was repatriated to Germany to
continue his flying career, only
to lose eventually his own life in
Russia on the Eastern Front.
After a service at
St James', Sutton-in-Holderness,
Hull, on 13th September 1940, Pat
Hughes was buried with full
military honours in the
churchyard. Curiously, his
address given in the burial record
at the time of his death was 384,
James Reckitt Avenue. Later,
the release of the 1939 Register
would reveal that was Kay's home
too, where Kay lived with her
mother. and that was updated later
to show Kay's new married name of
Hughes. But we doubt he ever lived
at or visited Kay's home, but
having married her, of course,
that would now be his home address
other than an RAF billet somewhere
on or near a camp.
His grave was tended for many
years, up to the mid-1990's, by
(the late) Mr Bert Knowles on
behalf of the Sub-Branch of the
Spitfire Society. Since around
1995, Marjory Shirtliff and her
husband Norman performed this
task, keeping the grass tidy,
laying flowers and occasionally
washing down the marble headstone
until recent years, when Marjory
died in 2018. It is also
noteworthy that the stone itself,
in common practice with all war
graves, doesn't mention Pat's
Australian nationality, just that
he was a pilot with the RAF, which
is partly true, as he was on
secondment to the RAF. Pat was
noted within the squadron for
defiantly keeping and wearing his
darker-blue RAAF uniform .. a
proud Australian indeed, and no
doubt he would have returned to
the RAAF had he survived the war.
Marjory was in regular contact
with Connie, Pat's sister in New
South Wales, until Connie herself
passed away in July of 2010, aged
95.
At Christ's Church,
Kiama, on the south coast of NSW,
a memorial tablet placed on the
churchyard fence by another of
Pat's sisters, Muriel Tongue,
reads:
"This panel is dedicated to the
memory of F/Lt P C Hughes DFC
killed in action Battle of Britain
7 September, 1940. Aged 23."
A special memorial,
this time depicting his aircraft
and the area of his major
operations, was unveiled and
dedicated at Monaghan Hayes Place,
Cooma, the town of Pat's birth, on
26th March 1998, in the presence
of members of the Spitfire
Association. Seeing
Marjory's amazing folder of
collected letters and family
records, recently donated to the
museum by her daughters, tells us
that Pat is one of two wartime
veterans honoured in that town,
and in and around Cooma, the name
of Pat Hughes is very well known
indeed. We agree ... and
rightly so.
We
hope that this page of details
will be of interest to anyone
who has ever visited Sutton
churchyard, and paused to wonder
how a 23 year-old Australian
came to be buried here. A few
more photos of Pat's grave, and
the general churchyard, are
below.
In September, 2021, our museum
inherited Marjory's complete
folder of information that she
had collected and beautifully
arranged all about Pat, when her
daughters Cheryl and Lesley
donated them to our ongoing
care. The folder is on our
shelves in our library and
available for all visitors to
view for their own research.
We
are indebted to the following
for the above details:
Reference:
"A Few of the Few" by Denis
Newton,
published by the Australian War
Memorial.
Stan
Howard . . Chairman
of the Memorials Sub-committee
of the Cooma-Monaro
Sub-Branch of the Returned and
Services League of Australia.
Bronwen
Hughes . . for doing
the research and finding and
supplying me with all the above
details, and in so doing, found
that her family is indeed
related to Pat Hughes' branch of
the Hughes family after all. Her
act of kindness (see below) is
what helped to find much of the
above information in the first
place. Of course, at the time I
first contacted Bronwen, I had
no idea that Marjorie and Norman
were tending the grave and had
been already in touch with Pat's
sister for many years. It is
indeed a small world now.
THERE'S
A QUITE A STORY . .
of how we in Sutton came to find
more details of Pat and his
family
I
originally wrote to Bronwen,
having found her name and email
address in an Internet
Directory. She was on a list of
people on a website called
"Random Acts of Genealogical
Kindness" where volunteer
helpers offer help and research
in Family History matters. It
seemed too good to be true.
But
Bronwen lived quite some miles
away down the coast away from
Haberfield, and Kiama, and at
first any link between herself
and Pat seemed remote and
clutching at straws. For she
then knew nothing of any link
herself.
Nevertheless,
touched and impressed by Pat's
story, Bronwen put a free advert
in the Sydney Telegraph, and was
inundated with replies, from
both people that knew the family
and of Pat's RAF service, and
from the family itself. It just
goes to show the power of the
internet. And the nice twist to
the tale is that initial
research seems to show that
Bronwen IS related to this
fighter ace after all. This is
her reply to me when she first
received the details back from
Stan Howard.
Dear
Rob,
I have had a marvellous result
in my quest for information on
Paterson Clarence Hughes. His
deeds are well known to his
family and the Spitfire Society
here. Apparently 4 years ago
they held a special service for
"our boy". I have attached an
email I received today. I'm sure
you will find it of interest.
(shown above).
It
was over three weeks ago I
placed the application to have a
notice in the Sydney newspaper,
it was only printed in last
Wednesday's edition (22 May
2002), my phone has not stopped,
I have been inundated with calls
from family members and people
who have heard of our brave
young fighter pilot. I have
passed on the information
obtained from the website. "Pat"
was also a descendant of one of
the first fleet convicts sent to
Australia.
Many thanks for
your original email, it started
a search that has been most
rewarding, and it now looks like
our family is related to
Paterson's line.
I have forwarded
your original email onto a
family member and I am sure he
will be in touch with you.
Regards
Bronwen Hughes
Update
2002:
And indeed, I can report that we
are now in regular contact with
Pat's nephew, Malcolm Booth,
whose late mother was one of
Pat's sisters. We have had quite
a bit of correspondence, and as
can be imagined, the delight of
the family in seeing that Pat is
still in such peaceful
surroundings is good to feel,
even at this great distance.
These following 7 full-sized
pictures are for them . . click
on any picture to see a larger
version, and it will open in a
new window. Close each window as
you move onto the next, or
you'll run out of memory on some
older machines. These thumbnails
are about 1/3rd size.
Please bear in mind that the
quality of early digital cameras
in 2002 was not what it is
today; they are rather poor
images by today's standards.
An evening view, on Sept 15,
Battle of Britain Day, across
the churchyard, back towards
the Church Hall. The back of
Pat's grave is the one right
in the middle of the photo.
Click this view for a larger
and clearer image of the
inscription, taken Sept 9th
2006.
The Sutton & Wawne Museum
Home Page
THE DEANNA
DURBIN LINK
Perhaps it's
time for a few more photos
here .. maybe this one of
Marjorie and Norman
Shirtliff, (sadly, now both
deceased) taken with Merrill
Rhodes, on Pat's Memorial
Day, back on Sept 7th, 2006.
This is a good indication of
how this couple have taken
on and cared for this grave
over the past 15 or more
years. I only recently
learnt, in 2010, the story
of just how Marjorie and
Norman came to be involved.
It's all down to the screen
actress Deanna Durbin.
Marjorie is a great fan, and
in the Deanna Durbin
Society. She became friends
with fellow member, Jean
Holmes, in Barton on Humber
just over the water. Jean is
very involved in looking
after war graves generally,
and on telling Marjorie
about the ones in Sutton,
Marjorie and her husband
took on the particular task
of looking after Pat's,
which they have done ever
since. Deanna was a popular
actress of the war years,
and understandably
especially popular with the
armed forces. It's not
beyond credibility that Pat
himself could have been
rather keen on the lass
himself, as would most of
his and other squadrons. A
wonderful aside to an
amazing story. And at the
time of writing, Deanna
herself is still alive,
living in Paris, and will be
90 next year, and would
probably be equally amazed
that her name and career
would become connected all
these years later with an
Australian RAF pilot. For
those that are interested,
visit Deanna's
page on the IMDB.
There used to be a Deanna
Durbin Society, now closed.
She died in 2013.
Use your 'BACKSPACE' key when
done,
also for the ones below.
They
have taken Pat's story to
heart, and were regularly in
touch with another of Pat's
sisters in Australia, until
she herself died in 2010 .
These little thumbnails open
up into bigger views. After
we laid the flowers, I went
back and took these other
shots later in the day.
November 2005
A further update to Pat's
story has been the
dedication of the Memorial
Plaque mentioned above, now
affixed to the wall of the
bungalow in Kent where Pat's
fallen body was found.
The service of dedication
was on the 65th anniversary
of Pat's death in September,
the arrangements being made
largely by Tony Hall who
still lives in the same
bungalow. It was Tony's late
father who had witnessed the
dogfight between Pat's
squadron and the enemy, and
who saw the stricken
Spitfire come to grief. It
had always been his father's
wish that this pilot should
be remembered in this way,
and so with the help of the
Battle of Britain Society,
2005 saw his wish granted.
So Pat is now remembered
both where he fell, and
where he is buried.
Tony Hall, seen here on the
left, along with his brother
Des.
Click on the small image to
read the
plaque on the wall behind
them.
In
2008, as the 68th
anniversary of Pat's death
approached, a memorial
stone was built and
dedicated, alongside Main
Road in Sundridge near to
Tony Hall's garden where
Pat's body was found, at a
special service on August
23rd. This stone is one of
a series commissioned by
the Shoreham Aircraft
Museum commemorating
Battle of Britain pilots
who died in the immediate
area.
Tony
Hall wrote to Pat's
nephew, Malcolm,
enclosing this photo.
" ..
Dear Malcolm, Just got
back from the dedication
ceremony. A wonderful
sunny day for it, after
our wettest August ever. A
whole crowd of villagers
and V.I.P's, including
Wing Commander Bob Doe,
& The Australian Air
Attach�. We had a very
smart parade by the Air
Cadets and a great flypast
by the Spitfire, "The
Spirit of Kent". I believe
a video was filmed, as is
usual at these
dedications; I will see
you get one. The Shoreham
Aircraft Museum did a
grand job of organising
the event. More to follow
in Post eventually.
Regards, Tony Hall .. "
image
courtesy of Australian War
Memorial P01397.001
and RAAF Museum, Point
Cook, Victoria, Australia.
This
photo was taken by an
unknown photographer in
1939,
just at the start of the
war, when Pat was still a
Pilot Officer.
This
link is to the Shoreham
Aircraft Museum
showing photos of the
dedication of the above
stone, as well as of
other memorials, and is
well worth a visit.
Pat's is the 5th
memorial down the list.
Pat
was just one of many, the
famous 'few', who never
lived to see the outcome of
the battle whose success,
and cost, we commemorate on
this day every year. We
should, and do, remember all
of them. Pat's story is very
representative of the many
who came from Overseas, from
every corner of the Empire,
black and white, almost
every creed and colour, to
help fight for the ideals
that Britain held to be
worth fighting for. Indeed,
even as I write, we still
fight for. As a nation, we
forget their sacrifice and
example at our peril.
I
hope we have indeed made it
certain that this young man,
along with all the others
buried beneath war graves in
Sutton churchyard, will
never be forgotten.
And
finally, we are indebted
firstly to (the late) Mr
Bert Knowles of Sutton, and
latterly (the late) Marjorie
and Norman Shirtliff of
Holderness High Road, Hull,
for their continuing service
of tending Pat's grave, and
laying flowers for him, for
so many years. I know they
were all very pleased there
were now photos of Pat on
this page and a fitting
tribute to his service.
RLH.
28 Aug 2009
updated with new smiling
1939 photo of Pat in the
cockpit,
in time for anniversary on
7 September 2009
Random Acts of
Genealogical Kindness
is how I came to find
Bronwen and her good help.
This page is worth a look.
They are a worthy cause, and
need volunteers
all over the world.
Battle of Britain
Historical Society
.. have a touching webpage
devoted to Pat, with a short
story in verse telling of
his life and untimely death.
Kristen
Alexander Books, of Mawson
in New South Wales
is an author who has written
several books on aviation
matters pertaining to
Australia. In particular, her
book "Australia's Few and the
Battle of Britain", published
in 2015 in a UK edition by Pen
& Sword, contains details
of Pat Hughes' service in both
the RAAF and the RAF, as well
as the seven other Australian
pilots who served in the
Battle of Britian. Details of
how to purchase are on her
site, and a picture of the
book cover is on our Publications
Page
An
Australian Forces Memorial
Site
that lists more details
about Pat, and also,
about 5 photos of him, one
in a Hurricane fighter.
When the page loads, click
on the
COLLECTIONS SEARCH
and type in Pat's full name
thus :
PATERSON CLARENCE HUGHES
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