LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Albert William HOWARD
Service No: 405273
Born: Bundaberg QLD, 9 September 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 March 1941
Unit: No. 460 Squadron, RAF Station Breighton, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 460 Squadron Wellington aircraft Z1422), off the French Coast, 4 August 1942, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Albert Arthur and Charlotte Jane Isobel Howard; husband of Jean Howard, of Taringa, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Proserpine QLD
Remembered: Panel 112, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 107, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Date: 4-5 August 1942
Target: Mine Laying
Total Force: Dispatched – 45, Attacking – 35
RAAF Force: No. 460 Dispatched – 10, Attacking – 9
Mines Laid: 77
Total Aircraft Lost: 2
RAAF Aircraft Lost: 1
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Page 308
Wellington Z1422 of No. 460 Squadron RAF took off from RAF Breighton at 2214 hours on 4 August 1942 to carry out a gardening (mine laying) operation. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Z1422 was one of ten aircraft from the Squadron that took part in the mission.
The crew members of Z1422 were:
Pilot Officer Albert George Grand (402948) (Pilot)
Sergeant Thomas Cunnah Hobgen (404313) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Albert William Howard (405273) (Navigator)
Sergeant Colin Roderick Donald Lowis (405277) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Athole Douglas MacLeod (405274) (Air Bomber)
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, 163/123/301
Bibliography:
Firkins, P. C. (Peter Charles) (441386) Strike and Return, Westward Ho Publishing City Beach WA, 1985