LEST WE FORGET

Pilot Officer William Philip Revenall HEWITT

Service No: 420565
Born: North Sydney NSW, 23 February 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941
Unit: No. 630 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station East Kirkby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 630 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB665), Germany, 15 February 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Leslie and Dorothea Ada Hewitt, of Gulgong, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Gulgong NSW
Remembered: Panel 258, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 1710 hours on 15 February 1944 Lancaster JB665 took off from East Kirby to attack a target at Berlin. Nothing more was heard from the aircraft after take-off, which did not return to base. In 1949, a report based on interrogation of local authorities and residents stated that the aircraft crashed near Teterow, Meckleburg, at about 2030 hours, presumably as a result of enemy action and all the crew members had been killed.

The crew members of JB665 were:

Pilot Officer Derek Reginald Carlile (171073) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant William English (117836) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flying Officer John Emlyn Evans (132710) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Llewellyn Vivian Fussell (171169) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer William Philip Revenall Hewitt (420565) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Leslie George Lane (174127) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Norman Harold Mitchell (1088025) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer John Leslie Richards (170946) (RAFVR) (Pilot)

Seven bodies of the RAF crew members were recovered and buried at Gustrow cemetery, 16 miles west of Teterow. They were later re-interred at the British Military cemetery at Heerstrasse, Berlin. No trace however could be found of Pilot Officer Hewitt’s remains and he was registered as having no known grave.

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, 166/17/483

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