LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Malcolm Ross HUNTER
Service No: 421982
Born: Grenfell NSW, 22 July 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 April 1942
Unit: No. 35 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Graveley
Died: Air Operations: No. 35 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND645), Germany, 22 March 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Hanover War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Francis George and Effie Oliver May Hunter, of Grenfell, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Grenfell NSW
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Grenfell World War II Memorial, Grenfell NSW
At 1846 hours on the night of 22 March 1944 Lancaster ND645 took off from Graveley to bomb Frankfurt, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at Schiffenburg in the Giessen area approximately 35 miles north of Frankfurt. It was later established that the aircraft exploded in the air throwing clear the two survivors who became prisoners. The other five crew members were killed.
The crew members of ND645 were:
Flight Lieutenant A Grant (129612) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer) PoW
Pilot Officer Harry Gray (402662) (Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Fred Haigh DFM (101522) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Malcolm Ross Hunter (421982) (Air Gunner)
Squadron Leader T Rowe (124836) (RAFVR) (Pilot) PoW
Sergeant Abel Simpson (1031549) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Edmund Howard Williams (171772) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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, 166/18/309
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line