LEST WE FORGET

Pilot Officer James Frederick HEARNE

Service No: 676
Born: Bathurst NSW, 10 July 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 January 1940 (at Archerfield QLD)
Unit: No. 1 Air Observers School
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1 Air Observers School DH-84 Dragon aircraft A34-2), Cootamundra, 11 November 1940, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Bathurst General Cemetery, Bathurst NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick and Eva Hearne, of Hornsby
Roll of Honour: Hornsby NSW
Remembered: Panel 116, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

On a photographic exercise on 11 November 1940, Dragon A34-2 crashed two miles south west of the Cootamundra aerodrome and the all the crew members were killed.

The crew members were:

Aircraftman Class I John Duff Cameron (24119) (Photographer)
Leading Aircraftman John Head (402016) (Trainee Observer) Fatally injured, Died: 11 November 1940
Pilot Officer James Frederick Hearne (676) (Pilot)
Leading Aircraftman Robert Montgomery (4113) (Trainee Observer)
Leading Aircraftman Ernest Arthur Piercy (404202) (Trainee Observer)
Leading Aircraftman James Clifford Stanley (400197) (Trainee 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 A9300, HEARNE J F; A9845, 211

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