LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Arthur Frederick HOOKWAY
Service No: 412964
Born: Quirindi NSW, 1 November 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 7 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Oakington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 7 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND588), North West Europe, 22 May 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Percy George and Ellen Agnes Hookway, of Quirindi, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 257, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Quirindi Town Clock and War Memorial, Quirindi NSW
At 2250 hours on 21 May 1944 Lancaster ND588 took off from Oakington on a bombing mission to Duisberg, Germany. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. In 1950 following investigation by the Missing Research and Enquiry Service it was reported that no trace of the aircraft or crew could be found.
The crew members of ND588 were:
Sergeant James William Broughton (1815266) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Leonard Charles Dudley (138406) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant William Henry Giles (1600994) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Reginald Halsey Grant (421969) (RNZAF) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Arthur Frederick Hookway (412964) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Kenneth Steedman (1589945) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Roy Thompson (2214099) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
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, 166/18/360
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line