LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Justin Francis LOUGHNAN
Service No: 18119
Born: Melbourne VIC, 3 September 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 August 1940
Unit: No. 115 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Witchford
Died: Air Operations: (No. 115 Squadron Lancaster aircraft HK599), Germany, 14 October 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Francis Joseph and Mary Josephine Loughnan, of Glen Iris, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Bendigo VIC
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0710 hours on 14 October 1944 Lancaster HK599 took off from Witchford detailed to bomb Duisberg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by anti-aircraft fire and crashed. Six of the crew members were killed and one was taken prisoner.
The crew members of HK599 were:
Flying Officer Ronald Brown (154592) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Raymond Eayres (1590859) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Harry Thomas Ford (154079) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Robert Hamilton (1566443) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Peter Herbert Frederick Hughes (1894389) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer R F Lister (152113) (RAF) (Pilot) PoW
Pilot Officer Justin Francis Loughnan (18119) (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 A9300, LOUGHNAN J F