LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Harry Phillip FORSTER
Service No: 429316
Born: Brisbane QLD, 11 April 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 September 1942
Unit: No. 15 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 15 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit Oxford aircraft PG986), Gloucestershire, 8 January 1945, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Bath (Haycombe) Cemetery, Somerset
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Edgar and Elizabeth Forster, of Aspley, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Glass House Mountains QLD
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 8 January 1945, Oxford PG986 took off from Long Newton, Gloucestershire, on a non-operational night flight authorised to carry out wireless telegraph training. At 2150 hours the aircraft crashed into Long Newton Priory and the three crew members were killed. PG986 was given direction finding bearings which brought it back to Long Newton airfield and it was over the airfield at 2132 hours. Snow was falling at the time when the aircraft collided with the house at considerable speed. The aircraft caught fire and was totally destroyed. There was no evidence to show why it was flying so low at the time of the accident.
The crew members of PG986 were:
Flight Sergeant Harry Phillip Forster (429316) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Frank Hutchinson (429207) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Francis Lewis (1898112) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
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, 166/14/334