LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Ronald HARDY
Service No: 429799
Born: Boulder WA, 13 April 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 October 1942
Unit: No. 514 Squadron (RAF), RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 514 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LM685), Germany, 3 February 1945, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forrest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Corrie and Hilda Louisa Hardy, of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Kalgoorlie WA
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
On the night of 3/4th February, 1945, Lancaster LM685 took off from RAF Waterbeach at 1619 hours, detailed to bomb the Hansa Benzol works at Dortmund, Germany. The aircraft was carrying 1 x 4000 lb (1,800 kg) MC bomb, 10 x 500 lb (225 kg) ANM, 58 OR 64, 2 x 500 lb (225 kg) General Purpose (GP) bombs long delay, 3 x 250 lb (110 kg) bombs, 1675 gallons of petrol sufficient for 7.5 hours of flying, approximate duration of mission 5 hours. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. Subsequently it was learned that all the crew lost their lives.
The crew members of LM685 were:
Flying Officer Alan Quilliam Downward (J/41672) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Warren James Keating Fisher (J/41106) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Hardy (429799) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Albert Richard McWhinney (R/7729) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Alfred Hector Morrison (J/95454) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Donald Edward Stephens (J/40767) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant William Barclay Warr (1399495) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
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, 166/17/983