LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Raymond Leslie FRANCIS
Service No: 418380
Born: Rutherglen VIC, 3 July 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 May 1942
Unit: No. 1667 Conversion Unit (RAF), RAF Sandtoft, Yorkshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1667 Conversion Unit Halifax aircraft LL459), Yorkshire, 8 June 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur John and Elizabeth Marion Francis, of Rutherglen, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Rutherglen VIC
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the 8th June 1944, Halifax LL459 took off from RAF Sandtoft for a night cross country flight. At about 0210 hours, the aircraft dived out of control onto the banks of the river Humber, at a place known locally as Howden Dyke Island, just to the south of Hook and more or less directly east of Goole, Yorkshire. It was believed that the aircraft stalled. All the crew of six members were killed.
The crew members of LL459 were:
Flight Sergeant Gilbert Francis Brown (418699) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Raymond Leslie Francis (418380) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Kevin William Hennessy (437579) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer William Edgar Laurence Moody (422623) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant William Robert Rex Porter (40230) (Navigator)
Sergeant Frederick William Reed (1181898) (RAF) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/14/213