LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Clifton Lawrence HUGHES
Service No: 410670
Born: Albert Park VIC, 12 April 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 January 1942
Unit: No. 221 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 221 Squadron Wellington aircraft HZ883), northern Adriatic Sea, 24 August 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Clifton Earnst and Nora Espbeth Hughes; husband of Veronica Sarah Hughes, of North Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 16, Column 1, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0031 hours on 24 August 1944 Wellington HZ883 took off together with another squadron aircraft, to carry out a night offensive shipping reconnaissance mission in the North Adriatic or attack an alternative target of Parenzo. No wireless messages were received from the aircraft and it did not respond to radio calls from base. HZ883 failed to return from the mission. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded that the missing crew members were lost at sea.
The crew members of HZ883 were:
Warrant Officer Frederick Peter William Bray (591703) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Eric James Cottridge (1397235) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant Roy Dowson (1549235) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Warrant Officer Clifton Lawrence Hughes (410670) (Navigator)
Sergeant Leslie Rudd (1493877) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant John Sutcliffe (1623386) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
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, 166/18/444