Son
of George A. and Rebecca Porritt, of Knowlton, Province of Quebec,
Canada, age 21, died on 19-Aug-1944 while based at Lantheuil,
France.
The
following entry is from 439's War Operations Record Book (Form 540): Once again two
pilots were lost on the same day flying their Typhoons on bombing
missions, J/21202 F/O "Porky" Porritt and J/7814
F/L Ken Scharff. On the last operations of the day fate
dealt us an unkindly blow. F/O Porritt of Quebec was last seen on
this operation and no word has been received about him. The loss of
another two old members of the squadron was pretty hard to take but,
we do expect to see or hear about "Porky" before long and
live with that hope. Unfortunately it was learned later that
"Porky" did not make it.
The
following entry is from 439's War Operations Record Book (Form 541):
This,
the third show of the day, was airborne at 13:35 hours to carry out
an armed recce over the now familiar area of Orbec-Le
Sap-Vimoutiers-Fervaques. Twelve aircraft took off in three sections
led by S/L Norsworthy, F/O Johns and F/L Scharff. The three sections
proceeded to the "range" independently to pick off their
own "sitting ducks". This time the Hun set up some flak
posts and gave his transport some protection. The bulk of the MET
attacked was found in this area just to the east of Vimoutiers and
once again the keen marksmanship of the pilots built up a
considerable bag. F/O Bernhart watched F/L Scharff pull up dust
after a successful attack, saw his starboard wing become damaged by
flak and saw the aircraft dive into the ground exploding on impact.
F/L Scharff was presumed killed instantly. Claims were made at
interrogation amounted to 12 flamers and 5 damaged MET. One pilot
failed to return however, and his Squadron mates watched the clock
until the endurance of F/O Porritt's Typhoon was up. Then they realized
that something must have happened to "Porky". His
aircraft was last seen flying in a normal manner over the
target area but no further trace of him was seen or heard.
"Porky" is reported as missing. The net bag for the
day was: 25 Flamers; 10 Smokers; and 28 Damaged. Against these, on
the debit side of the ledger we had: One pilot missing believed
killed. One pilot and aircraft missing.
Following
entry is from The
Canadian Virtual War Memorial website courtesy of
the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
J/21202
F/O R.A. "Porky" Porritt is buried at
BRETTEVILLE-SUR-LAIZE CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY, France Grave Reference:
XXVI. E. 7.
Book
of Remembrance - Volume I