LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Herbert McCARTHY
Service No: 401388
Born: Melbourne VIC, 16 December 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 February 1941
Unit: No. 50 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Skellingthorpe
Died: Air Operations: (No. 50 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED484), off the French Coast, 13 February 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Herbert Joseph and Gertrude Agnes McCarthy, of Middle Park, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: South Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 193, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1910 hours on the night of 13 February 1943 Lancaster ED484 took off from Skellingthorpe detailed to bomb the submarine base at Lorient, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The bodies of three crew members were washed ashore and it was presumed that the aircraft had crashed in the sea. No trace of the aircraft or the others in the crew was found.
The crew members of ED484 were:
Warrant Officer John Howard Bailey (746977) (RAFVR) (Supernumerary)
Sergeant Donald Robert Bishop (574641) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant Evan Arthur Davies (101537) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Jonathon Hodgson (R/108386) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant William James Hogg (R/97033) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant John Herbert McCarthy (401388) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Lloyd Harvey Peterson (R/114943) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Maurice James Steward (120646) (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, 1166/26/34