LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Robert Mead HOLLINGWORTH
Service No: 414564
Born: Brisbane QLD, 21 May 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 October 1941
Unit: No. 77 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Elvington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 77 Squadron Halifax aircraft DT730), Germany, 4 December 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Becklingen War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
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 Sergeant Alexander Hollingworth (404246)
At 2330 hours on the night of 3December 1943 Halifax DT730 took off from Elvington detailed to bomb Leipzig, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team reported in 1946 that “the aircraft crashed on the night of 3 December 1943 near Cloppenburg which is approximately 30 miles south west of Bremen. Seven of the crew members were killed and one taken prisoner.”
The crew members of DT730 were:
Flight Sergeant Cecil Ritchie Boyd (1203145) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Reginald Job Caseley (159068) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer II William Robert Farrell (R/112769) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Robert Mead Hollingworth (414564) (Second Pilot) (Attached from No. 1663 Conversion Unit)
Flight Sergeant K E Lees (R/83606) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner) PoW
Pilot Officer James Miller (158404) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Frederick Ernest Ryder (617495) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant William John Henry Webb (1576212) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Lees later reported “the aircraft exploded unexpectedly in mid-air. It was shot down between Oldenburg and Cloppenburg near Bremen. As far as I know none of the others baled out before the explosion, and the Germans told me that all the others were killed.”
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, 166/18/232