Date:	Friday 12 April 1940
Time:	12:00
Type:	Lockheed Hudson Mk III
Owner/operator:	233 Sqn RAF
Registration:	N7258
MSN:	ZS-J
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, South West of Kristiansand -   Norway
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Leuchars, Fife
Destination airport:	RAF Leuchars, Fife

Narrative:
Lockheed Hudson Mk.III N7258 (ZS-J) of 233 Squadron RAF: Lost on combat operations (officially "presumed to have crashed in the North Sea") 12 April 1940. Took off from RAF Leuchars at 07.28 hrs. Set out to intercept and shadow an enemy naval task force believed to include the Scharnhorst and two Hipper-class cruisers.
Claim by Lt Edgar Struckmann 5/JG77 - South West of Kristiansand at 12:00.
Pilot Officer George Yorke, a New Zealander from Wellington, who was involved in the first submarine attack of the war, and his crew, are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. All four crew were posted as "missing presumed dead".

Crew of Hudson N7258:
Flight Lieutenant Andrew H. McLaren, RAF 39019, DFC, 233 Sqn., age 21, 12/04/1940, missing presumed dead
Leading Aircraftman James Alexander Milne, RAF 610765, 233 Sqn., age 19, 12/04/1940, missing presumed dead
Pilot Officer George J.D. Yorke, RAF 36185 (New Zealand), 233 Sqn., age 25, 12/04/1940, missing presumed dead
Corporal Matthew Wilson, RAF 522495, 233 Sqdn., age unknown, 12/04/1940, missing presumed dead

Bombers from Bomber Command attacked the German naval forces. 9, 38, 44, 50 and 149 Squadron lost 4 Wellingtons and 6 Hampdens. 6 KIA, 39 MIA, 3 POW. As no trace of Hudson N7258 or its crew was ever found, they are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-N9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain)
2. Ross McNeill, 'Coastal Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 1 (1939-1941)' p 28
3. W.R. Chorley. Bomber Command losses 1939-1940'.
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/130: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14141965
5. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/233_squadron.html
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1079563/mclaren,-andrew-hood/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1076918/milne,-james-alexander/
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1532246/yorke,-george-james-denzil/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1531847/wilson,-matthew/

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

9 July 1940

N7377

233 Sqn RAF

4

North Sea, off Shetland Islands, Scotland

w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-Jun-2019 20:45	Dr. John Smith	Added
08-Jun-2019 10:41	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
30-May-2022 16:47	Anon.	Updated [Time, Narrative]