Hossack, Ian Milne (Ian)
Pilot Officer (Pilot)
No. 33568, 144 Squadron, Royal Air Force
Killed in action on Thursday 11 July 1940 (aged 19)
Buried:
Jonkerbos War Cemetery, Gelderland, Netherlands (Grave 12. G. 5)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Bangor and District War Memorial (as Hossuck I.M.)
Bangor Parish Church of Ireland Church (St. Comgall’s)
Family grave headstone in Bangor Cemetery, Newtownards Road, Bangor
BIOGRAPHY
Ian Milne Hossack was born in 1920 in Surbiton, Surrey and he was a son of James Davidson Hossack and Eileen Inez Hossack (nee Rodgers, sometimes Rogers) who were married on 19 February 1919 in Glencraig Parish Church of Ireland Church, Craigavad. James Davidson Hossack, an Army Captain from Banff in Scotland, was a son of Gordon Milne Hossack, a solicitor. Eileen Inez Rodgers from Rathmoyle, Helen’s Bay was a daughter of John Owens Rodgers, a gentleman.
During the First World War, James Davidson Hossack served with the Seaforth Highlanders and then as a Captain with the Royal Engineers.
Ian Hossack’s younger brother, Patrick (Pat) Hossack, was born in 1926 and, as children, the boys enjoyed holidays at their maternal grandmother’s house, Innisfail, Princetown Road, Bangor. Their mother Eileen was born on 29 March 1889 in Belfast; she died on 12 May 1929 when Ian was nine years old (Pat was three) and was buried in Bangor Cemetery. Ian’s grandmother died in 1944.
Ian Milne Hossack attended Imperial Service College, Windsor and during the Second World War he served with the Royal Air Force in Bomber Command. He was killed in action on 11 July 1940 when returning from a bombing mission over Wanne-Eickel in Germany. He was one of a crew of four aboard a Handley Page Hampden Mark I aircraft (P4366) that took off from RAF Hemswell in Lincolnshire. The aircraft was hit by flak and crashed near Kessel in the Netherlands. The other three crew members who died that day were:
- Sergeant Eric Basil Hartley France
- Sergeant Edward Dennis Leamy (aged 20) from Canterbury
- Sergeant Clarence Rose
All four were buried in Jonkerbos War Cemetery, Netherlands.
Ian’s younger brother, Patrick (Pat) Hossack, served with the Royal Air Force from 1944 until 1947 and during the war he flew Spitfire fighter aircraft in the Far East. Pilot Officer Ian Milne Hossack (No. 33568) was 19 when he died and he is commemorated on Bangor and District War Memorial (as Hossuck I.M.); in Bangor Parish Church of Ireland Church (St. Comgall’s) and on the family grave headstone in Bangor Cemetery.
There are two inscriptions:
Superna Petimus
This is the motto of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell and means: We seek higher things
The Spirit Hath Returned Unto God Who Gave It