LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant William Henry HARE

Service No: 419992
Born: Gunbower VIC, 4 April 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 October 1942
Unit: No. 11 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Westcott, Buckinghamshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 11 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft LN661), North Sea, 4 January 1944, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Raymond and Olive Ada Annie Hare, of Rochester, Victoria. Australia
Roll of Honour: Bamawm VIC
Remembered: Panel 260, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 2320 hours on 3 January 1944 Wellington LN661 took off from RAF Westcott on a night cross country navigation training flight. Part of the flight was over the North Sea. The last known position of the aircraft was 52.55N 001.58W. Then nothing was heard from LN 661 which failed to return to base. Air Sea Rescue searches found no trace of the missing aircraft or crew. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.

The crew members of LN661 were:

Flight Sergeant Henry William Arthur Blackwood (421846) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant James Joseph Body (1467695) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant William Henry Hare (419992) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Henry Jaeger (1331468) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Leonard Douglas May (1620247) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Raymond Miller (426133) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Harry Richard Willis (429932) (RNZAF)

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, 166/17/427

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