LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Charles George Duval HAINS
Service No: 400888
Born: Bangalow NSW, 4 February 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 November 1940 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 272 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Takali, Malta
Died: Air Operations: (No. 272 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft T4986), off the Italian Coast, 11 December 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Eugene and Ellen Mabel Hains, of Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 5, Column 2, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 11 December 1942 Beaufighter T4986 took off from Takali together with other squadron aircraft on an offensive patrol to intercept enemy transport aircraft. About 30 miles from the island of Lampione in the Mediterranean the formation was intercepted by enemy aircraft and during the engagement one aircraft was seen to crash into the sea. As T4986 did not return to base after the mission, it was presumed that this was the aircraft that was shot down. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1948 that both crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of T4986 were:
Flight Sergeant Charles George Duval Hains (400888) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Dennys Charles Lawton (1154127) (RAFVR) (Observer)
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, 163/120/721