LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Colin HUGHES
Service No: 421597
Born: Lismore NSW, 15 August 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 February 1942
Unit: No. 3 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 3 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft HX512), North West Europe, 10 August 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward Jackson Hughes and Gladys Mary Hughes, of Ballina, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Ballina NSW
Remembered: Panel 191, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2200 hours on 10 August 1943 Wellington HX512 took off on an operational training exercise, but the aircraft did not return to base. The last signal was received at 2214 hours, but nothing heard from then. It was expected that bad weather over the sea would prevent the crew from completing the exercise and they were instructed to return. Six crews were sent out on the exercise, and after the recall five crews returned to base within 2 hours. Searches were carried out but no wreckage or traces of the crew members were found, and it was presumed that they were lost at sea.
The crew members of HX512 were:
Sergeant Amos Samuel Maskell Goode (131717) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Harold Hewson (1124613) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Colin Hughes (421597) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Thomas Reid Jones DFC (J/6016) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Robert William Tattle (1391683) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Robert Terry (1126976) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
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, 166/18/148