LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Reginald Hawies CURNER
Service No: 422537
Born: Sydney NSW, 14 May 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 May 1942
Unit: No. 53 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station St Eval
Died: Air Operations (No. 53 Squadron Liberator aircraft BZ818), English Channel, 13 June 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William and Elizabeth Curner; husband of Elizabeth Mary Curner, of Woollahra, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Woollahra NSW
Remembered: Panel 260, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2130 hours on 13 June 1944 Liberator BZ818 took off from St Eval to carry out an anti-submarine patrol in support of major operations then in progress. A message was received from the aircraft late at night indicating that a submarine had probably been sighted and was about to attack. Nothing was subsequently heard from the aircraft which failed to return to base. With no trace of the missing aircraft or crew being found following post war enquiries and investigations, it was concluded in 1949 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of BZ818 were:
Flight Sergeant Kenneth John Campbell (422425) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Squadron Leader John William Carmichael DFC MID (33421) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Reginald Hawies Curner (422537) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Victor Henry Lusher (1198113) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Ian Errington Martin (422221) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Thirlwell McKeown (1005316) (RAFVR) (First Navigator)
Flying Officer Albert Otto Peters (408874) (Second Navigator)
Flight Lieutenant John William Shaw (78664) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Ernest Evelyn Stevens (569937) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flying Officer Vivian Roy White (145802) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air)
CWGC records show the date of death as 14 June 1944 for the RAF members and 13 June 1944 for the RAAF members of this crew.
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, 166/8/502
Bibliography:
Jay, Alwyn, Endurance; Coastal Command Liberator Operations 1941-5, Banner Books, Maryborough QLD, 4650, 1996