LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Basil BOYTON
Service No: 401100
Born: London, England, 30 September 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 January 1941 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 415 Squadron (RCAF)
Died: Air Operations (No. 415 Squadron Hampden aircraft AE360), North Sea, 4 October 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Robert and Hilda Lucy Ann Boyton, of Edenhope, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Edenhope VIC
Remembered: Panel 112, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Hampden AE360 took off at 2020 hours on 4 October 1942 on a night navigational training exercise. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Extensive searches the next day failed to locate the missing aircraft or crew. In 1949 it was recorded that the missing crew had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of AE360 were:
Pilot Officer Joseph Henry Barton (120921) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Basil Boyton (401100) (Pilot)
Sergeant Joseph Francis Maher (798638) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Joseph Guy Stuckless (798641) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator 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, 163/93/708