LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant James Hassett HEHIR
Service No: 405075
Born: Brisbane QLD, 5 March 1909
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941
Unit: Overseas Aircraft Delivery Unit (RAF)
Died: Air Operations (Overseas Aircraft Delivery Unit Wellington aircraft Z9043), off the Algerian Coast, 16 January 1942, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Hehir; husband of Virginia Rose Hehir, of Whyalla, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 111, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wellington Z9043 was reported missing on a ferry flight from RAF Station Portreath to the Middle East on the night of 16 January 1942. The aircraft had departed Gibraltar for Luqa, Malta, and crashed into the sea off Bone, Algeria. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of Z9043 were:
Sergeant James Maxwell Brady (400502) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Raeburn Brown (400693) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Joseph Ernest Browne (1378107) (RAFVR)
Sergeant James Hassett Hehir (405075) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Allan Frank Scott (1151101) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Miles William Scott (987500) (RAFVR)
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, 163/121/130