Garth Wells Fuller Carey

Garth Wells Fuller Carey was born on 25 April 1916 in Christchurch, New Zealand, the son of William Reynolds Carey and Alma Lucy Blanche Carey of Cashmere, Christchurch, and was educated at Christ’s College before training as a pilot at RNZAF Station Wigram. On completing his training he was attached to the Royal Air Force and joined No. 220 Squadron, a Coastal Command unit flying Lockheed Hudsons on North Sea patrols from RAF Thornaby. During a patrol in January 1940 Carey engaged enemy aircraft over the North Sea, pressing his attack to close range and shooting one of them down in flames — an action for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, gazetted on 19 January 1940. The squadron was operating throughout the early months of the war on long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-shipping duties, and Carey took part in the intensifying tempo of operations following the German advance into Norway and the Low Countries in the spring of 1940. On 14 July 1940, while returning from patrol in Hudson N7231, the aircraft struck the cable of a barrage balloon near Boldon Colliery in County Durham, lost control, and crashed with fatal consequences for all four men aboard. Pilot Officer Carey was twenty-four years old; he is buried at Hylton (Castletown) Cemetery, County Durham, Section D, Row 1, Grave 730.