LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Norman Wood HAYTER
Service No: 412439
Born: Bowral NSW, 18 September 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 July 1941
Unit: No. 138 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Tempsford
Died: Air Operations (No. 138 Squadron Halifax aircraft JD179), France, 17 August 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Ecorcei Churchyard, Orne, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Karl Gordon and Beatrice Myers Hayter, of Gerringong, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Gerringong NSW
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Soldiers Memorial Hall, Gerringong NSW
Remembered: Mittagong and District War Memorial, Mittagong NSW
On the night of 17 August 1943 Halifax JD179 took off from Tempsford on a Special Operations Executive (SOE) Operation BOB 43/44, and set course for France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed near Ecorcei (Orne), France. Six of the crew members were killed and one was fatally injured.
The crew members of JD179 were:
Sergeant Horace George Ansell (1472439) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Francis Boles (1349988) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant William Stuart Davies (941487) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW, Fatally injured, Died: 19 August 1943
Sergeant George William Francis Duckett (1817929) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Norman Wood Hayter (412439) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Albert Hutchinson (1387540) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Alan Blakiston Robinson (425220) (Air Gunner)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/17/259
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line