LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Edward Henry GRIBBLE
Service No: 413577
Born: Randwick NSW, 6 November 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 September 1941
Unit: No. 466 Squadron, RAF Station Leconfield, Yorkshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 466 Squadron Halifax aircraft HX296), Yorkshire, 16 December 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward Joseph and Alice Jane Gribble, of Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Blacktown NSW
Remembered: Panel 110, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Parramatta High School Second World War Honour Roll, Parramatta NSW
Halifax HX296 took off from RAF Leconfield on a cross-country H2S (radar) training flight during the afternoon of 16 December 1943. Soon after take off, the aircraft made an emergency crash landing at Decoy Farm, Watton near Hutton Cranswick airfield, Yorkshire. The aircraft was not long airborne when the starboard outer engine caught fire and spread to the starboard mainplane. Three of the crew members were killed and the five others were injured.
The crew members of HX296 were:
Flight Sergeant Charles William Angus (1385016) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer Gerald Robert Bermingham (409072) (Pilot) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 16 July 1945
Sergeant F C Brown (1806212) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) Injured
Pilot Officer John Ernest Evans (409527) (Bomb Aimer) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 5 November 1945
Pilot Officer Edward Henry Gribble (413577) (Navigator)
Sergeant G E Kent (1231765) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) Injured
Sergeant Edward John Roynon (1314292) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant V M B Thompson (1035401) (RAFVR) (Navigation Instructor) Injured
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, 166/16/238
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line