LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Valentine Stewart HENDERSON
Service No: 401573
Born: Castlemaine VIC, 1 February 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 March 1941
Unit: No. 23 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Pershore
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 23 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft Z1053), Worcestershire, 7 May 1942, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Pershore Cemetery, Worcestershire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Valentine Horden Felix and Rubina May Henderson, of Toorak, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 7 May 1942, Wellington Z1053 took off from Pershore for night bombing training, armed with 6 x 250 lb (pound) practice bombs, sand filled. At approximately 0340 hours, the aircraft stalled and dived almost vertically, to crash at Lower Moor between the airfields of Pershore and Defford in Worcestershire. All the crew members were killed. The cause of the crash was attributed to the propeller and reduction gear shearing from one of the engines.
The crew members of Z1053 were:
Sergeant Joseph Milton Lorraine Charbonneau (R/82859) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Leslie Frank Fisher (778784) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Valentine Stewart Henderson (401573) (Observer)
Flight Sergeant George Lawson Macintosh Mesheau (R/73304) (RCAF) (Observer)
Pilot Officer Peter James Arnold Huke Palin (J/7338) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant John Murray Sadler (R/62910) (RCAF) (Wireless 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
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9301, 401573