LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Alexander HOLLINGWORTH
Service No: 404246
Born: Brisbane QLD, 15 January 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 July 1940
Unit: No. 102 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Dalton
Died: Aircraft Accident: (No. 102 Squadron Whitley aircraft Z9289), Yorkshire, 6 January 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Rose Hill Cemetery, Doncaster, Yorkshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Alexander and Maude Hollingworth, of Bowen Hills, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Flight Sergeant Robert Mead Hollingworth (414564)
At 0424 hours on 6 January 1942 Whitley Z9289 took off from RAF Station Dalton detailed to bomb Brest, France. The aircraft turned back over Cherbourg when the starboard engine failed.
When approximately 12 miles south of Sheffield, the unserviceable engine caught fire and the
Captain ordered bale out at 4,000 feet. While trying to force land, the aircraft crashed at 1010 hours into a quarry at the rear of Creswell Street, Barnsley, Yorkshire. Four of the crew members baled out but Sergeant Buchanan who baled out was killed. The pilot, Sergeant Hollingworth, lost his life in the aircraft when it crashed. It was later established that the accident occurred because of failure of the exactor control to the starboard engine allowing the engine to over rev and eventually catch fire.
The crew members of Z9289 were:
Sergeant E A Brain (RCAF) Uninjured
Flight Sergeant Alexander Gibson Buchanan (R/58102) (RCAF)
Sergeant J T Hazeltine (RAF) Uninjured
Sergeant Alexander Hollingworth (404246) (Pilot)
Sergeant L Jackson (RAF) Injured
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, 163/123/190