Horn, Dudley Crofton

Date of birth:: November 2nd, 1923 (Sevenoaks, Kent, England, the United Kingdom)
Date of death:: January 14th, 1945 (Bergharen, Wijchen municipality, Gelderland province, Nederland)
Buried on:: Commonwealth War Grave Dutch Reformed Cemetery Bergharen
Plot: South West.
Service number:: 1333758
Nationality:: British

Biography

Dudley Crofton Horn was born on 2 November, 1923, in Sevenoaks, Kent, England, the United Kingdom. He was the son of Cyril Roland and Sarah Marion Horn. Of his youth there is no information available at this time. It remains unclear when he joined the Royal Air Force (RAF).

It is certain though, that he held the rank of Flight Sergeant in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and was pilot of the Hawker Typhoon Mk 1b, R8688, with code ZY-X, in the 247th Squadron. His Squadron was part of the Numbere 124 RAF Wing.

Dudley took off at Helmond Airfield (code B86) on 14th January, 1945, at 13:00 hours, to conduct a reconnaissance mission to plot the railways facilities at Ommen, the Netherlands. During this flight he was shot at by two American P-47 Thunderbolts, who probably mistakenly took him for a German aircraft. Flight Sergeant Dudley C. Horn couldn't leave his plane as it crashed in an earth wall on the banks of the Oude Wetering, near Bergharen, Gelderland province. Dudley Crofton Horn didn't survive the crash and died at only 21 years of age.

He is buried at the Protestant Cemetery of Bergharen, in the southwest corner. There is also a Cenotaph at the Holy Cross Churchyard in Bearsted, Maidstone Borough, Kent, England, the UK.

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