LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Stanley William JONES
Service No: 426789
Born: Gympie QLD, 12 July 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 July 1942
Unit: No. 626 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Wickenby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 626 Squadron Lancaster aircraft HK539), Germany, 25 March 1944, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Evan Jones and Elsie Alice Jones, of Toowong, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the night of 24/25th March 1944, Lancaster HK539 took off from Wickenby detailed to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. When homebound, the aircraft crashed and burst into flames at Neuwarendorf, 4kms west of Warebdorf, Germany. All the crew members were killed
The crew members of HK539 were:
Sergeant Thomas William Bint (1853424) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Charles Cecil Christie (1128392) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer John Gibson (J/85485) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Stanley William Jones (426789) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Cecil Nathanson (928627) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Wing Commander Quentin Weston Aldridge Ross (32111) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Hance Watt (1571083) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
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, 166/21/137