LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Howard Durrell EVERINGHAM
Service No: 402736
Born: Sydney NSW, 21 March 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 14 October 1940
Unit: No. 458 Squadron, Shallufa, Egypt
Died: Air Operations: (No. 458 Squadron Wellington aircraft HX722), Shallufa, 7 February 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Suez War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Benjamin and Eda Estelle Everingham, of Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia; foster-son of Nellie D. Everingham, of Chatswood
Roll of Honour: Chatswood NSW
Remembered: Panel 106, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 7 February 1943, Wellington HX722, on return from an operational mission to bomb Candia, crash landed on the runway at Shallufa at 0850 hours and it is believed a bomb exploded. The aircraft was a complete wreck and four members of the crew were killed with a fifth member being thrown clear.
The crew members of HX722 were:
Sergeant David Dunnett (1266506) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Howard Durrell Everingham (402736) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Gordon William Knox (1135628) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Colin William McCrae (411345) (Wireless Air Gunner) Slightly injured: Discharged from the RAAF: 1 April 1945
Sergeant Eric Lyndon Rayner (1286457) (RAFVR) (Observer)
The AWM Honour Roll and Commonwealth War Graves record the Date of Death for Flight
Sergeant Everingham as 7 February 1943. CWGC records the date of death for the other three crew members killed in the crash as 17 February 1943. On Flight Sergeant Everingham’s RAAF Casualty file (A705, 166/12/7) a Death Certificate was issued recording his Date of Death as 7 February 1943. This was later cancelled and a new Death Certificate issued showing Everingham’s Date of Death as 17 February 1943. The Squadron Operations Record Book records the mission and crash as occurring on 7 February 1943.
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/12/7
Bibliography:
Alexander, P. (Peter) We Find and Destroy: history of No. 458 Squadron, The 458 Squadron Council, 1959