LEST WE FORGET

Pilot Officer Ian Walter HUNTER

Service No: 408848
Born: Cheltenham VIC, 20 March 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 June 1941
Unit: No. 122 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Bognor Regis, Suffolk
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 122 Squadron Mustang aircraft FZ191), off the English Coast, 28 April 1944, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Herbert Alexander Hunter and Mary Elizabeth Hunter; husband of Joan Hunter, of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
Roll of Honour: Belgrave VIC
Remembered: Panel 258, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

On 28 April 1944 Mustang FZ191 took off from Bognor Regis to carry out practice dive bombing at sea with 2 x 500 lb (pound) (220 kg) bombs. The aircraft was last seen at 1210 hours 10 miles south of Bognor, diving from 8,000 feet to 5,000 feet at an angle of 45deg and dropping bombs.  The aircraft pulled out of the dive but then was lost to view and was not seen again. Search aircraft located oil spots on the sea which may have been caused by the aircraft striking the water. No wreckage or trace of the pilot was found. In 1950 Pilot Officer Hunt was recorded as missing with no known grave.

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, 166/18/343

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