LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Robert Bernard HOPE DFC
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 122129 (RAF)
Born: Date, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 83 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Wyton, Cambridgeshire
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 83 Squadron Lancaster I aircraft R5626), Germany, 3 April 1943, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Ernest and Rosina Harriett Hope, of North Balwyn, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Brother of Able Seaman Peter Kenneth Hope MID (D/JX 194874) (RN) Died in service: 13 October 1940
On 3 April 1943, Lancaster R5626 took off from Wyton at 1950 hours to attack Essen, Germany. The aircraft crashed in the target area and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of R5626 were:
Sergeant Cedric Leslie Billington (1502415) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant William Billington (1080356) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Dennis Brennen (1600210) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Robert Bernard Hope DFC (122129) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant James Spy Keay (623478) (RAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Leo Neil McArthur (R/104008) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant Ronald George Pegg (1238512) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
References:
Chorley, W .R. Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War – Volume 4 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1943, Midland Counties Publications, 1996
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records