LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant John Bernard BRADY
Service No: 402635
Born: Sydney NSW, 25 October 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 September 1940
Unit: No. 500 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations (No. 500 Squadron Hudson aircraft AM663), North Sea, 17 February 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Francis and Eileen Susan Brady, of Rose Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Rose Bay NSW
Remembered: Panel 112, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0700 hours on 17 February 1942 Hudson AM663 took off from Bircham Newton to carry out an anti-shipping patrol off the Dutch coast. No communication was received from the aircraft, but an identification friend or foe (IFF) plot which may have been AM663 returning was seen to fade out approximately 30 miles off the coast from Cromer (Norfolk) at 0957 hours. With no trace of the missing aircraft or crew being found following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1949 that the crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of AM663 were:
Sergeant John Bernard Brady (402635) (Observer)
Sergeant David Hewitt (751261) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Pilot Officer Philip Rowland Pollock (400290) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant George Francis Webb (812243) (RAF (Auxiliary Air Force)) (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, 163/93/426