LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Leonard Burtham HABERECHT
Service No: 413377
Born: Henty NSW, 28 June 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 August 1941
Unit: No. 301 Ferry Training Flight (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 301 Ferry Training Flight Mosquito aircraft HX805), Wiltshire, 9 September 1943, Aged 21Years
Buried: Bath (Haycombe) Cemetery, Somerset
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred Leonard and Caroline Beatrice Haberecht, of Henty, New South Wales, Australia; husband of Babette Josephine Haberecht, of Collaroy, New South Wales.
Roll of Honour: Henty NSW
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 9 September 1943, Mosquito HX805 flown by Flight Sergeant Haberecht crashed at Swindon, Wiltshire, and he was killed.
The crew members of HX805 were:
Flight Sergeant Leonard Burtham Haberecht (413377) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant A H Dutton (550725) (RAFVR) (Staff Wireless Air Gunner) Baled out
In a later statement Flight Sergeant Dutton said: “I was detailed to carry out a wireless test on Mosquito HX805. At approximately 1017 hours, I entered the aircraft with the pilot Flight Sergeant Haberecht, who started the engines up and without warming them up, taxied to the end of the runway, and took straight off at approximately 1030 hours. We climbed to 5,000 feet and dived downward over the WAAF site at Compton Bassett, clearing the site by about 150 feet. We then climbed to 8,000 feet and dived once more over the site clearing it by about 2/300 feet. We then climbed to 20,000 feet, and cruised around while I tested the wireless. At about 1055 hours, the Pilot decided to return to base, and I then reeled in my trailing aerial. The Pilot then instructed me to secure my safety harness as he was going to loop the aircraft. We commenced a shallow dive, IAS 160mph. At 15,000 feet I was secured, and the Pilot put the aircraft in a 10 degree dive which we maintained for 20 seconds, and the Pilot commenced easing the stick back gently, when the starboard wing shuddered violently. The Pilot released his safety harness and jettisoned the door. The aircraft commenced a flat spin and shuddered. The aircraft then went into a vertical spin. The Pilot picked up my parachute pack and pushed it against my chest while I attempted to clip it on. He told me to hurry. At about 2,000 feet having secured one side of my pack the Pilot pushed me out of the door backwards.” An Inquiry into the accident concluded: “the aircraft spun in from 15,000 feet out of control and breaking up during descent to burst into flames on impact. The Pilot was on duty at the time and in no way to blame for the crash. He deserves commendation for remaining with the aircraft to help his wireless operator to get out of the aircraft at the cost of his own life.”
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, 166/17/311