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Horace Victor SOLE DFC
Known as Victor

Serial Number: NZ404419
RNZAF Trade: Pilot
Date of Enlistment: 23rd of November 1940
Date of Demob: 11th of April 1945

Rank Achieved: Flying Officer
Flying Hours: unknown
Operational Sorties: unknown

Date of Birth: 24th of March 1920, at Manaia, Taranaki
Personal Details: Victor was the son of Clyde Leyton Sole and Rita Coralie Sole (nee Sharp) who lived in Hawera. He married Lois Isabella Sole (nee Haworth). By May 1948 he was a mechanic at Cambridge Service Station.

Service Details: Horace Sole trained at an OTU at RAF Hullavington, and then served briefly with No. 234 Squadron, RAF, on Supermarine Spitfires in the UK. In February 1942 he was posted to India, and in March he joined No. 67 Squadron there, flying Hawker Hurricanes. In August 1943 he was posted to No. 34 Squadron, where he served until his repatriation to New Zealand in December 1944.

Horace received the Distiguished Flying Cross on the 3rd of April 1945, for his service on No. 34 Sqn flying Hurricanes. The citation read:

"Pilot Officer Sole has taken part in a large number of operational sorties, the majority of which have been bombing and low level attacks on Japanese positions in close support of the Army. He is an excellent leader who always plans his operations with meticulous care and presses home his attacks with great determinations."

Details of Death: Horace died in Dunedin on the 30th of June 1973

Connection with Cambridge: Horace Sole became a resident of Cambridge during the war when he moved to the town with his wife Lois.

Waikato Independent newspaper articles mentioning Horace Sole
Received DFC 4 April 1945
Welcome Home Dance 2 May 1945

 

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