LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant James Joseph CLEARY
Service No: 418069
Born: Footscray VIC, 27 December 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 April 1942
Unit: No. 1656 Conversion Unit (RAF), RAF Station Lindholme
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1656 Conversion Unit Halifax aircraft DT781), Devon, 14 January 1944, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Bath (Haycombe) Cemetery, Somerset
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Francis and Elizabeth Agnes Cleary of West Footscray, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Footscray VIC
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2149 hours on the night of 13 January 1944, Halifax DT781 took off from Lindholme for a night navigation training exercise. While cruising at 20,000 feet, the aircraft caught fire and broke up following a fire in the port outer and a subsequent loss of control. The bulk of the wreckage which fell at around 0140 hours was found to the east of Holsworthy, Devon. A later investigation into the accident established that as the aircraft plunged, the outer starboard main plane failed in an upwards direction. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of DT781 were:
Sergeant Roy Charles Bradbury (1601578) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Roy Burgess (1874815) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant James Joseph Cleary (418069) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Herbert Dolden (652653) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Frederick Jacob Hjartarson (J/23121) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant William Routledge Wilson (R/155803) (RCAF) (Pilot)
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, 166/7/394