LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Bruce Lettington HUMPHREYS
Service No: 418120
Born: St Kilda VIC, 15 October 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 April 1942
Unit: No. 5 Lancaster Finishing School (RAF), RAF Station Syerston
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 5 Lancaster Finishing School Lancaster aircraft W4232), near Syerston, 17 April 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Oxford (Botley) Cemetery, Oxfordshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Thomas Humphreys and Eva May Humphreys, of Kew, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Kew VIC
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1559 hours on the 17 April 1944, Lancaster W4232 took off from Syerston on a day cross country exercise. At about 1600 hours the Pilot was asked by Control to report the height of the cloud base. This was acknowledged but no further wireless message was received. At 1605 hours witnesses saw the port outer main plane of the aircraft break away when the height was about 1,000 feet, after which the aircraft dived vertically to the ground. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of W4232 were:
Sergeant Alan Dennis Bale (1894597) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Reginald John Brown (1650995) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Nelson Harcourt Cutler (1459698) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant John Albert Davies (2204830) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Arthur Harkness Farrell (1238840) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Bruce Lettington Humphreys (418120) (Pilot)
Sergeant Alan Townsley (2202697) (RAFVR) (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, 166/18/331