LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer David HUGHES
Service No: 577
Born: Preston VIC, 5 January 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 4 September 1939
Unit: No. 1 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: Withdrawal from Singapore (No. 1 Squadron Hudson aircraft A16-23), Malaya, 26 January 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas Varty Hughes and Mabel Maria Hughes, of Greensborough, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Greensborough VIC
Remembered: Panel 97, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 26 January 1942, Hudson A16-23 was attacked by enemy fighter during a raid near Endau on the east coast of Malaya, and both Flying Officer Hughes and Sergeant Silk were killed outright by machine gun fire. The Pilot and the Air Gunner were unhurt and brought the aircraft back to Singapore.
The crew members of A16-23 were:
Sergeant (later Squadron Leader) Leonard Raymond Burston (O3252) (Air Gunner) Discharged from the RAAF: 28 February 1974
Flying Officer David Hughes (577) (Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant John Thomas O’Brien AFC (467) (Pilot) Discharged from the RAAF: 21 April 1949
Sergeant Edmund James Joseph Silk (405092) (Wireless 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, 163/36/145
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Balfe, J.D. (John Donellan) (272371) War Without Glory: Australians in the war with Japan 1941-5, The MacMillan Company of Australia, South Melbourne 3205, 1984