LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Leslie Pierson HANCOCK
Service No: 400368
Born: Footscray VIC, 29 February 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 August 1940
Unit: No. 1651 Conversion Unit (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 1651 Conversion Unit Stirling aircraft N6102), North Sea, 29 July 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Hiersing Hancock and Muriel Evelyn Hancock, of Ormond, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Caulfield VIC
Remembered: Panel 111, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2301 hours on the night of 28 July 1942 Stirling N6102 took off from RAF Station Alconbury to bomb an enemy target at Hamburg, Germany. On 29 July 1942 a message was received from the aircraft on its return journey giving its position as 54.23N 006.48E. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft which did not return to base. Other aircraft which returned from the mission reported very bad visibility and weather conditions with icing as low as 2,000 feet. The crew was recorded as missing with no known graves.
The crew members of N6102 were:
Sergeant James Coy (528782) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Ronald Frank Gordon Grant (1288356) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Leslie Pierson Hancock (400368) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Patrick Francis O’Shea (1386634) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Dennis Arthur Parkins DFC (102961) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Peter Carlyle Robson (1218567) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Arthur George Silvester (1337030) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Leonard Barclay Thomas (117657) (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, 163/35/201
Bibliography:
Ilbery, P.L.T. (Peter Leslie Thomas) (422957) Hatching an Air Force: 2SFTS, 5SFTS, 1BFTS Uranquinty and Wagga Wagga, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 2002