Hancock, R C S

,

Warrant Officer R C S (Hank) Hancock

Family/Last name:
Hancock
Forename(s) and initial(s):
R C S (Hank)
Military Unit:
Royal Air Force, 77 Squadron (RAF)
Rank when captured:
Warrant Officer
Place of capture:
Driesum, Friesland, Netherlands
Date of capture:
1942
Camp
Stalag 357 Oerbke / Fallingbostel, Stalag 357 Thorn, Stalag Luft VI Heydekrug, Stalag VIIIB Lamsdorf / Stalag 344, Stalag Luft III Sagan
Data sources
Other Sources (Relative’s report)
View a commemorative certificate for this prisoner

Information provided by Pat Jackson

Warrant Officer R C S Hancock, RAF, 77 Squadron

Any info about my father, Hank Hancock, who was sole survivor of Whitley bomber Z9280, crashed Driesum, Friesland, on 27 February 1942? His pilot was Leslie Hugh Parkin, DFC. Pilot of the German night fighter was Heinz Vinke, aged 21, his first victory out of 52 before he was MIA (missing in action) in February 1945.
My father was based at RAF Leeming and was a Navigator Observer of the Whitley. He was due home to RAF Marham back from Wilhelmshaven when he was shot down. The courageous people of Driesum, Friesland, sheltered him for as long as they could before he set out on the frozen canal to be subsequently captured. He was a POW in Stalag VIIIB (Lamsdorf), Stalag Luft III (Sagan), Stalag Luft IV (Heydekrug) and Stalag XXA Torun / Thorn and Stalag XID (357) Fallingbostel  and was liberated on 16 April 1945.

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