LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Norman BOND
Service No: 424080
Born: Kempsey NSW, 13 September 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 July 1942
Unit: No. 1667 Conversion Unit (RAF), RAF Station Sandtoft
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1667 Conversion Unit Halifax aircraft DG414), Lincolnshire, 5 July 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Richard Armstrong Bond and Florence Maude Bond, of Glen Innes, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Kempsey NSW
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Kempsey War Memorial, Kempsey NSW
On 5 July 1944, Halifax DG414 took off from Sandtoft for dual instruction for the crew. While flying at 200 feet on three engines, the Pilot lost control and the aircraft crashed at 1315 hours at Alkborough on the south bank of the Humber River, seven miles north west of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. Six of the crew members were killed, one died from his injuries and two were injured.
The crew members of DG414 were:
Pilot Officer Edward Barley (176232) (RAFVR) (Pilot under instruction)
Sergeant George Beedle (1594241) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant John Norman Bond (424080) (Navigator)
Sergeant T E Carr (1590301) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) Injured
Sergeant Hubert Fryer (1623205) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Lieutenant Benjamin Edward McLaughlin DFC (127223) (RAFVR) (Instructor Pilot)
Sergeant P Morrissey DFM (1661466) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) Injured
Sergeant Ivor Hubert Simmonds (1836668) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) Fatally injured, Died: 5 July 1944
Flight Sergeant Robert Anthony Wixted (434555) (Wireless 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 A9301, 424080
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line