I remember, when I was around 11 or 12, wearing my dad’s old RAF tunic (complete with a replica escape whistle hanging from the lapel) and watching a series on our small black and white TV called Pathfinders.

Set in World War II, it told the story of a (fictitious) RAF squadron that flew deep into enemy territory to mark out targets for heavy bombers.

It must have made an impression on me because, 50 years later, I have just finished reading an excellent book The Pathfinders: The Elite Force that Turned the Tide of WWII, by Will Iredale (WH Allen 2021).

The real Pathfinders were target-marking squadrons in RAF Bomber Command, that located sites with flares to increase the accuracy of bombing.

This specialist force was formed in 1942, partly because of an investigation into the hitherto effectiveness (or lack of it) of Bomber Command, undertaken by Colchester-born economist and member of the War Cabinet Office David Bensusan-Butt (1914-1994).

Ultimately, the Pathfinders (motto - “We guide to strike”) consisted of 19 squadrons, flying a variety of aircraft types – the Stirling, Lancaster and Halifax, but not forgetting that most versatile of flying machines, the Mosquito.

Our own wartime Dengie aerodrome – RAF Bradwell Bay, was known as a 'Mosquito station', because ten of the squadrons based there between 1942 and 1945 flew variations of that aircraft.

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

Bradwell, however, was never a Pathfinder base, but there are some interesting connections between the airfield and that elite force.

The Bradwell Station Diary (or Operations Record Book) includes a number of entries relating to Pathfinder aircraft limping in to Bradwell on their return from missions.

Sadly, not all of those emergency landings were successful.

At 18.21 on Saturday, January 8, 1944, 627 Squadron Pathfinder Mosquito IV, AZ-Q ‘Queenie’ (W4072), set off from RAF Oakington, in Cambridgeshire, on a mission to Frankfurt.

It was a special aircraft, one of only a handful of true B.Mk.IV series I Mosquito bomber conversions ever built.

It had powerful Merlin 21 engines and a bomb load of 2,000lbs. Initially with 105 Squadron, it had the distinction of being the first Mosquito to take part in an operational bombing sortie.

After a time with 1655 Conversion Unit, it was allocated to 627 Squadron.

Flying the aircraft that night was New-Zealand pilot F/O Ian Hugh Hanlon (NZ404463), accompanied by navigator F/O Francis Kent Evans DFM (127520).

They were an experienced crew and, having completed their mission, they were returning to Oakington when their starboard engine lost power.

It was 20.45 and, losing height, 27-year-old (it was actually his birthday that day) F/O Hanlon decided to drop in to Bradwell.

The reports of what happened next are full of contradictions. The Station Diary states: “Mosquito from Oakington circled the airfield with no R/T (Radio Telephony) or instruments, but in spite of the efforts of Flying Control it crashed into the sea…”

However, a surviving letter from Alfred Evans, the navigator’s father, says: “For some reason, after the aerodrome had been located, the landing lights were switched off and the plane landed in the neighbouring sea…”

Whatever the reason, it was a tragic end to that night’s Pathfinder mission.

But what of the crew?

Alfred Evans takes up the story. It was, he said, his son’s “33rd operation over German territory as the navigator of a Mosquito”.

F/O Evans had already been recognised for his “courage, skill, enthusiasm, vigour and determination” by being awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal.

As the Mosquito hit the water, former King’s College journalism student and married man Francis Evans “…managed to release his pilot from the aircraft”.

The pilot, F/O Hanlon, was found unconscious and taken ashore to East Mersea, where he was cared for at Rewsalls Farm.

However, there was no sign of F/O Evans. A search took place and eventually his body was recovered, but again it is all a bit confusing.

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

One source says that he “floated away in a dinghy and was later found dead”, another that he drowned.

His father writes: “Owing to his injuries and exposure, my son succumbed and his body was found later.”

Whatever happened that night, we can be sure that Francis Evans had saved the life of his pilot.

Today, Francis lies in Cambridge City Cemetery, his commonwealth war grave inscribed “One of the Few for the Many”.

Ian Hanlon continued with the Pathfinders until December 1944. In 1945, whilst flying a Hurricane, he was involved in a collision, landed heavily by parachute, suffered back injuries, but again survived.

He was Mentioned in Despatches for his time with 627 and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

He died in New Zealand in 1980, a Pathfinder to the end.