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Pohe, Porokoru Papatu John MiD (Flying Officer)

Prisoner of War KIA 1944-March-31

Male Head

Birth Date: 1921-December-10 (age 22)

Born: Whanganui, Whanganui District, Manawatu-Whanganui, New Zealand

Son of Whatarangi Ropoama Pohe and Honoria Maraea Pohe, of Taihape, Auckland, New Zealand

Home: Taihape, Auckland, New Zealand

Decorations: MiD


Mentioned in Dispatches
Service
RNZAF
Unit
51 (B) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Swift And Sure
Base
RAF Snaith
Rank
Flying Officer
Marshal
Air Chief MarshalA/C/M
Air MarshalA/M
Air Vice MarshalA/V/M
Air CommodoreA/C
Group CaptainG/C
Wing CommanderW/C
Squadron LeaderS/L
Flight LieutenantF/L
Flying OfficerF/O
Pilot OfficerP/O
Warrant Officer 1st ClassWO1
Warrant Officer 2nd ClassWO2
Flight SergeantFS
SergeantSGT
CorporalCPL
Senior AircraftmanSAC
Leading AircraftmanLAC
Aircraftman 1st ClassAC1
Aircraftman 2nd ClassAC2
Position
Pilot
Service Numbers
402894

Flying Officer PPJ Pohe MiD (RNZAF) was one of the 76 airmen to escape from Stalag Luft III in the Great Escape. Pohe was recaptured near Gorlitz, Germany and murdered 31 March 1944 by Gestapo agents (W. Lux and W. Scharpwinkel) and cremated at Gorlitz

Flying Officer Pohe was also known by his Maori name of Porokoru Patapu

Fifty of the seventy three escapees who were recaptured were murdered by the Gestapo on direct orders of Adolph Hitler

Only three of the escapees of the Great Escape made it to freedom

General Remembering the men of the Great Escape I RAF Benevolent Fund

General Vitz Archive of Allied Victims of Axis Murders

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Commonwealth War Graves Commission International Bomber Command Centre

Find-A-Grave.com Finadagrave.com

General www.nzwargraves.org.nz

Flying Officer Porokoru Papatu John Pohe was exhumed and reburied.

Home
Google MapTaihape, Auckland, New Zealand
Target
Google MapHanover Germany
First Burial
Google MapSagan POW Camp
Re-Burial
Google MapCmentarz Wojenny Wspolnoty Brytyjskiej w Poznaniu
Collective Grave 9 A

Halifax JN901

Handley Page Halifax

(RAF Photo, 1942)(Source Harold A Skaarup Web Page)A Royal Air Force Handley Page Halifax Mk. II Series I (Serial No. W7676), coded TL-P, of No. 35 Squadron, RAF, based at Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire in the UK, being piloted by Flight Lieutenant Reginald Lane, (later Lieutenant-General, RCAF), over the English countryside. Flt Lt Lane and his crew flew twelve operations in W7676, which failed to return from a raid on Nuremberg on the night of 28/29 August 1942, when it was being flown by Flt Sgt D. John and crew.

The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester.

The Halifax has its origins in the twin-engine HP56 proposal of the late 1930s, produced in response to the British Air Ministry's Specification P.13/36 for a capable medium bomber for "world-wide use." The HP56 was ordered as a backup to the Avro 679, both aircraft being designed to use the underperforming Rolls-Royce Vulture engine. The Handley Page design was altered at the Ministry to a four-engine arrangement powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine; the rival Avro 679 was produced as the twin-engine Avro Manchester which, while regarded as unsuccessful mainly due to the Vulture engine, was a direct predecessor of the famed Avro Lancaster. Both the Lancaster and the Halifax would emerge as capable four-engined strategic bombers, thousands of which would be built and operated by the RAF and several other services during the War.

On 25 October 1939, the Halifax performed its maiden flight, and it entered service with the RAF on 13 November 1940. It quickly became a major component of Bomber Command, performing routine strategic bombing missions against the Axis Powers, many of them at night. Arthur Harris, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Bomber Command, described the Halifax as inferior to the rival Lancaster (in part due to its smaller payload) though this opinion was not shared by many of the crews that flew it, particularly for the MkIII variant. Nevertheless, production of the Halifax continued until April 1945. During their service with Bomber Command, Halifaxes flew a total of 82,773 operations and dropped 224,207 tons of bombs, while 1,833 aircraft were lost. The Halifax was also flown in large numbers by other Allied and Commonwealth nations, such as the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Free French Air Force and Polish forces. Wikipedia

YouTube Halifax Heavy Bomber WWII

General Harold A Skaarup Web Page

Wkikpedia Wikipedia Halifax Bomber

Museum National Air Force Museum of Canada

last update: 2023-12-08 20:34:11

Halifax B/GR.Mk.II JN901



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