LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Robert Stanley KIFT
Service No: 410674
Born: Brunswick VIC, 17 February 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 January 1942
Unit: No. 35 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Linton-on-Ouse
Died: Air Operations: (No. 35 Squadron Halifax aircraft HR926), Germany, 22 October 1943, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Hanover War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Stanley Victor and Emily Alice Kift; husband of Ivy Kathleen Kift, of North Coburg, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Coburg VIC
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1817 hours on the night of 22 October 1943 Halifax HR926 took off from Graveley to bomb Kassel, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. Post war it was established that the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter on 22 October 1943 and crashed near Welda, which is approximately 18 miles north west of Kassel. Two crew members had been killed and five had become Prisoners of War.
The crew members of HR926 were:
Flight Sergeant Aubrey Ronald Brace (964963) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer S A Durrant (161070) (RAFVR) (Pilot) PoW
Sergeant W G Hart (1079568) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Sergeant A R Jordan (161240) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Flight Sergeant Robert Stanley Kift (410674) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant W G Kingham (133298) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Sergeant C P Packham (1320596) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer) PoW
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, 166/22/133