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Rorke , Michael Hope (M H)

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Photo of Rorke
Identity
Person No.
32731
Old ROH no.
2124
Service No.
P1/33453
Last Name
Rorke 3
First Name
Michael Hope
Initials
M H
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1924 (±1 yr) 375
Age at Death
27
Death Record
Date of Death
15 May 1951 108
Cause code
KIA 14,811
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action 14,686
Killed in action, in North American F-51 Mustang #330. Lt M.H. Rorke was one of three pilots preparing to take off from K-16 on their third mission of the day, their target being a well camouflaged supply dump near Singye. During his take of run, Lt Rorke's aircraft became airborne three quarters down the runway, but failed to climb higher than approximately 10 feet, and swung slowly towards a stranded B29 bomber at the end of the runway. As the Mustang's left wing began to drop, Lt Rorke jettisoned his napalm tanks, possibly in a last attempt to avoid disaster, but crashed into the B29 and the exploding napalm engulfed both aircraft
Military Service
Branch
Air Force
Rank
Lieutenant
Regiment
2 Squadron 109
Corps
South African Air Force 3,524
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
UDF 24,809
Union Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,879
Locality
Western Cape 2,137
Cemetery
UNITED NATIONS PUSAN CEMETERY 13
Grave Reference
Grave 1210 1
Memorial
Approach walkways to the Wall of Remembrance, UNMCK, Busan. Photo: Bubbahotepblues, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wall_of_Remembrance,_UN_Memorial_Cemetery,_Busan,_South_Korea.jpg)
Names on Grave
Memorial
United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea (UNMCK)
Location
Tanggok, Nam District, Busan, South Korea
Address
woonam-ro 93beon-gil 93, Nam-gu, Busan, South Korea
Coordinates
35.12845, 129.09623 · OpenStreetMap
Panel
Grave
On the panel
Grave 1210
Unit History
Part of
Rhodesian Air Force - Squadrons
Notes

ref. 85 years of SAAF

Research notes


5 Sep 2026: Unit "2 Squadron" (a squadron, SAAF's regiment-equivalent) promoted to Regiment, per John's decision. Corps (South African Air Force) unchanged.
25 Sep 2026, Unit2 service-branch sweep: the stored Secondary Unit "Army" was CLEARED. It was not a sub-unit, it was a service-branch word, and it CONTRADICTED this record's own Branch, "Air Force". Across the roll 787 records carried such a contradiction; judged against Corps and Regiment -- independent of both columns -- the evidence backed Branch 744 times and Unit2 not once. Branch is therefore kept and the contradicting word removed. Nothing is guessed: this man's branch of service is already recorded, and his sub-unit, if any, is simply not known.

Citations
Unknown
External References
Stories 1
on 03 July 2001 · via source
Lt M.H. Rorke was one of three pilots preparing to take off from K-16 on their third mission of the day, their target being a well camouflaged supply dump near Singye. During his take of run, Lt Rorke's aircraft became airborne three quarters down the runway, but failed to climb higher than approximately 10 feet, and swung slowly towards a stranded B29 bomber at the end of the runway. As the Mustang's left wing began to drop, Lt Rorke jettisoned his napalm tanks, possibly in a last attempt to avoid disaster, but crashed into the B29 and the exploding napalm engulfed both aircraft. He was buried in the UN cemetery at Pusan.
Dedications

No dedications have been added yet.