Base; Thorney Island.
Take off time: 1030 hrs.
Op: Search.

Missing off St. Brieuc Bay, Brittany, France, after a message at 1137 hrs stating 'Seven Escort vessels double line astern steaming 240 degrees which ended abruptly. Possibly shot down by Fw Bauer of II/JG2 some 40 km (25 miles) North of Morlaix. The crew are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

All lost:

P/O AW Martin - Obs	P/O M.W. Lishman - Pilot	F/Sgt R Fitzpatrick - WAG

Update August 2014: Have recently been contacted by Tim Jackson, his great uncle was friends with P/O Lishman. He kindly submitted the following photo. Thanks for getting in touch Tim, greatly appreciated.

During WWII, the RAF used three-letter codes to identify their aircraft from a distance. Two large letters were painted before the roundel, which signified the squadron to which the aircraft belonged, and another letter was painted after the roundel which indicated the individual aircraft. Aditionally, there was the individual serial number for each aircraft, which was painted in a much smaller size, usually somewhere at the rear of the aircraft: (more)

Codes used by RAF 59 Squadron:

PJ Sep 1938 - Sep 1939
TR Sep 1939 - Oct 1942
1 Aug 1943 - Jul 1944
WE Jul 1944 - Oct 1945
BY Oct 1945 - Jun 1946, Dec 1947 - Oct 1950