LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Hector DINNING
Service No: 404992
Born: London, England, 1 March 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 January 1941 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 97 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Woodhall Spa
Died: Air Operations: (No. 97 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5502), Belgium, 29 August 1942, Aged 23Years
Buried: Gosselies Communal Cemetery, Charleroi, Hainut, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Hector William and Margaret Dinning; husband of Pamela Joan Dinning, of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2102 hours on the night of 28 August 1942 Lancaster R5502 took off from Woodhall Spa to bomb Nuremberg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 0248 hours at Maurage
Chainut, 7 kms north west of Binche, Belgium. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of R5502 were:
Sergeant Charles Herbert Brummitt (1051139) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Ellis Victor Cope (RAF) (1006396) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant John Hector Dinning (404992) (Pilot)
Sergeant Harold John Endley (1153736) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Victor Arthur Hamon (1173236) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Brian Quinn (646803) (RAF) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant William Edleston Spooner (1479837) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
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, 163/102/68