Flt. Sgt. James Alfred
Hoather 1174105 RAFVR, DFM
James Alfred Hoather was born on
26 September 1921 in Camberwell and was the son of Frederick Hoather, an
Assistant Engineer for the London County Council and Rose Elizabeth Hoather.
Jimmy was the second eldest of four siblings – two boys and two girls, who at
this time lived at 8 Lomond Grove, Camberwell.
By the time that Jimmy was old
enough to go to school, the family had moved to 147 Eswyn Road, Tooting and
Jimmy attended the nearby Ensham Central Middle School in Franciscan Road,
where he was a prolific sportsman, playing cricket and football for his school.
He was a good enough footballer to be selected for Dulwich Hamlet’s Junior team
and played alongside Richard Boyd, Arthur Anderson and Ronnie Dicks, although
we are uncertain at present whether he featured in the team that won the London
Minor Cup in the 1939/1940 Season.
When the 1939 Register was taken,
Jimmy had left school and entered the world of work and was employed as a Clerk
at an LCC Hospital, although we do not know which hospital this would have
been.
At some point in 1940, Jimmy
joined the many Dulwich Hamlet playing staff, both senior and junior, in
volunteering to serve with the Royal Air Force as aircrew and after completing
his flying training, qualified as a Sergeant Pilot. He was posted to serve with
58 Squadron, Coastal Command which was engaged on the vital work of defending
Britain’s supply convoy lifeline across the North Atlantic, at that point flying
the obsolescent Whitley aircraft. After initially being based at Stornoway in
the Outer Hebrides, his squadron was re-equipped with the more modern Handley
Page Halifax bombers and moved south to RAF St Eval in Cornwall on 15 March
1943. Incidentally, this is the same airfield at which Dulwich Hamlet’s Bill
Parr was serving when he was killed in a flying accident almost exactly a year
previously.
Jimmy was promoted to Flight
Sergeant and as would be expected in such a vital role, his squadron was
frequently in the thick of the action. On 10 April 1943, Jimmy was recommended
for a Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) after a sortie to locate a German
blockade runner in the Bay of Biscay, guarded by four destroyers and a strong
air escort of Ju-88 aircraft. The enemy convoy was located and a striking force
successfully homed in despite strong opposition from the Ju-88s. Although his
aircraft was attacked and initially forced away from the enemy convoy, Jimmy
flew back to the convoy and despite being attacked and driven off for a second
time he persisted and remained in contact, successfully homing in British forces
to attack the convoy. During the action, Jimmy’s crew possibly shot down one
Ju-88 and damaged another.
His DFM was confirmed and
gazetted on 9 May 1943, which sadly was also the day that Jimmy and his crew
were posted as missing from a subsequent mission, also in the Bay of Biscay. On
this occasion, Jimmy and his crew were on an anti-submarine patrol, flying
Halifax aircraft HR743, serial BY-N.
Although the cause of the crew’s
loss was initially unknown, it was eventually discovered after the war (based
on the records of the enemy) that Hoather’s aircraft had attacked U-666 at
10:28 that morning. The submarine was a Type VIIC U-Boat commanded by
Kapitanleutnant Herbert Engel and was proceeding on the surface from its base
in L’Orient, France to take up a patrol position in the North Atlantic. This
manoeuvre was fraught with danger for the U-Boat crews and many were lost in
this way due to the Allies overwhelming air superiority by this stage of the
war.
Jimmy’s plan had undoubtedly been
to drop depth charges on the surfaced submarine but the U-Boat’s anti-aircraft
defences prevented an attack on the first run and the aircraft circled to make
another attempt. On the second approach, the Halifax was hit on one of the port
engines, causing the aircraft to crash into the sea about 500 metres from the
submarine, with the loss of all on board. The U-Boat continued on patrol but
did not sink any merchant shipping at this time. On 10 February 1944, by this time
under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Ernst Wilburg, she was sunk in the
North Atlantic, off the west coast of Ireland by depth charges dropped by a
Swordfish aircraft of 842 NAS embarked in the escort carrier HMS Fencer. There
were no survivors from the ships’ complement of 51.
Jimmy and his crew were on their
twelfth mission when they were posted missing and he is today commemorated on
Runnymede Memorial, Panel 137.
This article was written by Stephen Hunnisett
Our grateful thanks to Brian
Martin.
