421933 Flight-sergeant Alexander Hunter Holms, 1909-4/9/1943.

Alexander Holms grew up on a Southland farm and left New Zealand for overseas service in May, 1941.  He trained in Canada, graduated in January, 1942, and was posted to No. 149 Squadron, RAF, flying Stirlings.

Short Stirling

Fortrose cemetery.

Me 110 night fighter.

The Short Stirling was the first of the Royal Air Force's four-engined heavy bombers to go into action.  Therefore it was an older design by the middle of World War Two and one of the design parameters, meant to keep the plane's weight down, had resulted in a wingspan which was too short to gain the altitude needed for safety.  But it also resulted in a relatively thick wing cross-section with plenty of lift - crews found they could out-turn enemy night fighters if they were able to see them in time.

Fortrose Cemetery.

World War Two aerial night fighting was a matter of great skill, needing not a little luck.  German aircraft would take off and circle a radio in the area of an anticipated Allied bomber stream.  They would be vectored onto an oncoming plane by the ground control crew then detect it with their onboard radar.  The next step was to approach the bomber, stalking it and trying not to be seen by the crew.  When they could see the plane it was time to get close enough for the kill.  Skilled pilots would slide in just below the enemy bomber and pull back on the stick, pulling up the nose and firing at the unprotected underside of the plane in the brief few seconds before the fighter stalled and fell off to one side.  Some night fighters carried upwards-slanting cannon so that all was needed was to sit in the bomber's blind spot and fire when the moment was right.

The following comes from "https://stirlingpilot.org.uk/eyewitness.htm"

Sole survivor of the aircraft loss was the tail gunner, Harry Barnard, known to the rest of the crew as "Barney". His son, Graham, recounted what his father told him in these words: (comments in brackets are mine - AF). The following is from Graham, the son of Harry Barnard. As quoted to Richard Braun, Historian of Ludwigshafen. As they approached Mannheim, they were hit early by Flak. (It now appears that it was the Me110 flown by Heinz-Wolfgang Hoppner) "My father knew the aircraft was in trouble. It was banking over the target. One of the other gunners came through to the rear and told my father that they were the only ones alive on the aircraft. He went through the aircraft, checking this was true. It appeared to him that the pilot ( Andrew) and the co-pilot (presumably David Badcock) had been hit early, and were slumped over the controls - dead. (Unlikely, as the Stirling was not noted for flying well with two bodies leaning forward on the controls!). The other gunner ran to the rear, opened the rear turret (probably the rear exit) and jumped out. (This may have been Adrian Douglas, the wireless Operator/Air Gunner). My father did not see the parachute open. He then saw that the aircraft was only 400ft, approximately from the ground. He jumped clear of the aircraft, pulled his parachute and hit the ground 5 seconds later. As my father said, he was a very lucky man. He started to recover his chute, but within a minute was arrested by a soldier who said to him, 'Nein, nein, Johnny'. My father said the aircraft was in one piece, so it appeared that the bombs had been dropped". ( Accounts from Herr Braun, the LudwigshafenMundenheim historian, say that incendiary cases were found after the crash. N-Nuts had a history of Hang-ups, so this should not be viewed as conclusive).

Alexander Holms lies buried in Durnbach war cemetery. The remains of his Stirling were found in 2019.