LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Claude Dominic HEMY
From Australian serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 104519
Born: Fremantle WA, 1911
Enlisted in the RAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 51 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Chivenor, Devon
Died: Air Operations: (No. 51 Squadron Whitley aircraft Z9119), Atlantic, 3 August 1942, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: No additional information
Roll of Honour: Not applicable
Remembered: Panel 70, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Honour Avenues, Kings Park WA
At 0630 hours on 3 August 1942 Whitley Z9119 took off from Chivenor to carry out an anti-submarine patrol over the Atlantic Ocean. Z9119 did not return to base after the patrol. About 0800 hours Z9119 was seen by the crew of Whitley Z9228 being attacked by two enemy Aradoe 196 aircraft. At 0810 hours Z9228 saw a Whitley ditch into the sea and burst into flames, in position 48.45N 070.30W. This position is about 130 miles south westerly from Lands End. Subsequent searches could find no trace of the missing aircraft or crew. It was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of Z9119 were:
Sergeant Harold Victor Anson (1257553) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Charles Sydney Butcher (403314) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Jack Edgar Forster (130788) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Stewart Ernest Fenton Hatch (1260483) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Claude Dominic Hemy (104519) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant William Fincham Parker (915813) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
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