Flying Officer Philip Harvey was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He has since been reported missing. This officer has taken part in twenty-six sorties during which successful attacks have been made on shipping and on railway installations. During an attack on a railway installation, an aircraft of the formation in which Flying Officer Harvey was flying was hit by anti-aircraft fire. Displaying great determination, this officer escorted the damaged aircraft on the return until Flying Officer Harvey flew on and landed at an airfield, and then set out again as the navigator of an aircraft of the air/sea rescue service in an endeavour to find his comrade. During an operational flight one day in April, 1943, Flying Officer Harvey observed the crew of a bomber afloat in their dinghy. As a result of the information supplied by him, the crew were subsequently picked up. The same afternoon he took part in a successful attack on a ship off Brest. Flying Officer Harvey invariably displayed skill and courage of a high order. Flying Officer Harvey was born in 1919 at Dublin. His home was at Waterford. He enlisted in the R.A.F.V.R. in 1940 and was commissioned in 1941 after training in Canada. CWGC :: Casualty Details Flying Officer PHILIP HARVEY D F C, 102571, 263 Sqdn., Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who died age 23 on 17 April 1943 Son of the Right Revd. Thomas Arnold Harvey, D.D., Lord Bishop of Cashel, and Isabel Harvey, of Bishopsgrove, Waterford, Republic of Ireland; husband of Patricia Harvey (nee Watt), of Dunmore East, Co. Waterford. B.A. Remembered with honour RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 125. See this thread for reference: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/researc...tinctions.html :irishflag[1]:
17 April 1943. F/O. P Harvey DFC + 263 Squadron Whirlwind I P7090 Rhubarb sortie (targets of opportunity) Caen area, evening.
Harvey was one of at least three Irishmen who flew with No. 263 Sqn. Each marked his Whirlwind with a shamrock, although a number of sources state these to be 'lucky clovers'. Harvey had married only five weeks before his death. One of the other two Irish pilots, Lester Currie of Belfast - his father came from Ballyshannon in Donegal - was killed on 23 July 1942, also in a Whirlwind. The third Irishman was Stuart Lovell from Portstewart in Co Londonderry who was killed later when the squadron had converted to Typhoons.
I've always wondered what would have happened if they put a couple of Merlins on a Whirlwind back in 1940 rather than struggle with the Peregrine engines. I think those cannons would have come as a bit of a shock to Ju88 and He111 crews.
Harvey was one of at least three Irishmen who flew with No. 263 Sqn. Each marked his Whirlwind with a shamrock, although a number of sources state these to be 'lucky clovers'. Harvey had married only five weeks before his death. One of the other two Irish pilots, Lester Currie of Belfast - his father came from Ballyshannon in Donegal - was killed on 23 July 1942, also in a Whirlwind. The third Irishman was Stuart Lovell from Portstewart in Co Londonderry who was killed later when the squadron had converted to Typhoons. Sgt Josh Yates also served with 263 on Whirlwinds and was Irish regards RAF1
