LEST WE FORGET

Flying Officer Henry Horace HACKNEY

Service No: 423789
Born: Bathurst NSW, 16 April 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1942
Unit: No. 1658 Conversion Unit (RAF), RAF Station Riccall
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1658 Conversion Unit Halifax aircraft JD299), Yorkshire, 23 May 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Henry Horace and Marion Margaret Hackney, of Rockley, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Rockley NSW
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Burraga War Memorial, Burraga NSW

On a night cross country training exercise on 23 May 1944, Halifax JD299 from Ricall crashed when making an emergency landing following engine failure, and in so doing ran into trees. Two of the crew members were killed and five were injured.

The crew members of JD299 were:

Flying Officer Henry Horace Hackney (423789) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Marshall Hall (422504) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant S J Kirk (161199) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner) Injured
Sergeant P H McDonnell (1896366) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) Injured
Sergeant R J Middleton (1591745) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) Injured
Sergeant Crofton Robert Mudge (419327) (Wireless Air Gunner) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 25 October 1945
Pilot Officer Percy Alwyn Tulk (422766) (Pilot) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 20 September 1945

Pilot Officer Tulk later stated: “The starboard outer engine was feathered when the port outer engine failed. This airscrew wouldn’t feather and the aircraft lost height and finally force landed in a field crashing into a wood.”

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, 166/17/605
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line

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