When starting on an antisubmarine patrol, the aircraft he was Captain of, Catalina IIA VA713 - L, took off normally but crashed in the dark just after the last flare at 04:20, killing all ten crew.   Five are buried in Antsiranana at the northern end of Madagascar, while the others, including John are commemorated at the Alamein Memorial in Egypt.   He had 599 flying hours and completed 106 ops.

From painting of Catalina by C. Allen Mold

Thanks to Ross McNeill of RAF Commands for providing some of the details on this page