LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Clive Warren SISLEY
Service No: 410392
Born: St Kilda VIC, 28 October 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 December 1941
Unit: No. 78 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Breighton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 78 Squadron Halifax aircraft LV794), Germany, 26 February 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick John and Gertrude Ethel Sisley, of Boronia, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2105 hours on the night of 25 February 1944 Halifax took off from Breighton detailed to bomb Augsburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team report stated “the aircraft crashed one mile east of Fischbach at approximately 0030 hours on 26 February 1944. Fischbach is 8 miles south east of Pirmasens, Germany. Three crew members were killed in the crash and the other four became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of LV794 were:
Sergeant Ian Bell (1567138) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant William Maurice Carruthers (133396) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant A Collins (639630) (RAF) (Navigator) PoW
Sergeant A R Flexman (1399502) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Flight Sergeant Edward Charles Hocking (422190) (RNZAF) (Air Bomber) PoW
Flight Sergeant Bernhard Janke (425667) (Rear Gunner) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 24 October 1945
Flight Sergeant Clive Warren Sisley (410392) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Flexman later reported that “the aircraft was set on fire at 20,000 feet by a night fighter. The starboard inner engine and petrol tanks were on fire. The inter com and lighting were unserviceable. No orders were received from the pilot. I baled out on my own initiative. Height 18,000 feet. When on the ground I met the Navigator and the WOP. The Nav had a broken leg and the explosion threw him out. The aircraft was under control until it exploded, but time was short and all members would be unable to get out. The explosion occurred as I left the aircraft and I remembered little until I came to my senses lying of the ground. I was captured next morning by the German Home Guard.”
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, 166/37/238