Group portrait of a Coastal Command crew of 86 Squadron RAF at RAF Ballykelly. The crew flew a ...

Group portrait of a Coastal Command crew of 86 Squadron RAF at RAF Ballykelly. The crew flew a B24 Very Long Range (VLR) Liberator on anti-sumarine patrols over the Atlantic. Rear row, left to right: Flight Sergeant (Flt Sgt) Eddie Addison, RAF, from Halifax, Yorkshire, Chief Wireless Operator; 425011 Flt Sgt Leslie Theodore James (Les) Holm, RAAF, of Mackay, Qld, Wireless Air Gunner (WAG); 1762106 Flt Sgt Jack Everard, RAF, who was born in Belfast and had also lived in Birmingham, England, Flight Engineer; 425010 Phillip Brian (Phil) Hocken, RAAF, of Mackay, Qld, WAG; Flt Sgt Ron W Bennett, RNZAF, of Dargaville, NZ. Front row, left to right: Sgt Patrick L (Pat) Tutty, RAF, from County Wicklow, Eire, Navigator; Flight Lieutenant Frank Harwood, RAF Volunteer Reserve, of Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent, England, pilot; 414438 Flt Sgt (later Flying Officer) Harold Complin Tyas, RAAF, born in Manly, Qld, second pilot. Shortly after the photograph was taken, Keith Bridges from Perth joined the crew as Observer, completing the nine-man crew. The RAAF and RNZAF men had come to the squadron after training in Canada under the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS). In January 1944 the crew moved to Iceland, and then to Tain in northern Scotland on 6 June 1944. Flt Sgt Tyas, who had been posted to 86 Squadron RAF since 31 August 1943, left the crew in early 1944 to become pilot of his own aircraft. On 26 April 1945, he was lost on operations during an anti-submarine patrol over the Skaggerak.