LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Alan Ernest HILEY
Service No: 405586
Born: Brisbane QLD, 24 August 1941
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 April 1941
Unit: No. 101 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Holme-on-Spalding Moor
Died: Air Operations: (No. 101 Squadron Lancaster aircraft W4313), Germany, 11 February 1943, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William and Maria Hiley, of Dutton Park, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 192, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster W4313 took-off from Holme-on-Spalding Moor Yorkshire at 1731 hours on 11 February 1943 to bomb Wilhelmshaven, Germany. The aircraft was due back at base at 2254 hours. Nothing was heard from W 4313 after take-off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was established that the aircraft crashed and exploded on impact on the edge of a sandbank near the Isle of Juist at approximately 2000 hours on 11 February 1943. A report indicated that six bodies of the crew had been recovered from the sea and buried on the island, but exhaustive searches and exhumations had failed to establish the identity of any member of the crew.
It was subsequently recorded that the missing crew members had no known grave.
The crew members of W4313 were:
Sergeant Reginald Thomas Bozier (1322480) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Richard Arthur Collins (1312950) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Alan Ernest Hiley (405586) (Pilot)
Sergeant Frederick Harley Paterson (411372) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Sydney George Quinlan (411259) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Fred Travis Spivey (1378279) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Thomas Teviotdale (1367316) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
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, 166/17/39