LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Sydney George HILL
Service No: 422557
Born: Gulgong NSW, 26 December 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 May 1942
Unit: No. 53 Squadron (RAF), RAF St Eval, Cornwall
Died: Air Operations: (No. 53 Squadron Liberator aircraft BZ795), Bay of Biscay, 4 February 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Millar Hill and Elizabeth Hill; husband of Monie Hill, of Cowra, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 260, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cowra World War II and Korea Roll of Honour, Cowra NSW
Liberator BZ795 of No. 53 Squadron took off from RAF Station St Eval at 2220 hours on 3 February 1944 on an anti-submarine patrol in the Atlantic Ocean. At 0811 hours on 4 February a signal was received from the aircraft “U Boat sighted”. This was in position 45.30N 007.00W in the Bay of Biscay area. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft and it did not return to base. It was presumed that the aircraft was shot down while attacking a U boat. Following post war enquiries and investigations it was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of BZ 795 were:
Flight Lieutenant Deryck Addison Bell (60573) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Walter Churchman (551818) (RAF)
Flight Sergeant Ernest John Fowler (422163) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant Sydney George Hill (422557) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant Reginald Donovan Howard (946434) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant John Owen Lewis (416972) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Charles Lidgitt (1583827) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Vernon Trevor Alan Patey (1215935) (RAFVR)
Flying Officer Norman John Williams (420791) (Navigator)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/17/472
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line