LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Edward Francis STACK
Service No: 402412
Born: Greenwich NSW, 16 May 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 August 1940
Unit: No. 44 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Waddington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 44 Squadron Lancaster aircraft W4176), North West Europe, 9 January 1943, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward North Stack and Matilda Stack, of Greenwich, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Mosman NSW
Remembered: Panel 193, Runnymede memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Australia Remembers 1945-1955 Memorial, Lane Cove NSW
At 1751 hours on 9 January 1943 Lancaster W4176 took off from Waddington to carry out a mine laying operation in the Baltic Sea. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of W4176 were:
Sergeant William Barrett (541539) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant John Anthony Martin Bell (1330611) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Michael John Crowley (1036177) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Reginald Edwin Gladwish (1330780) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Hubert William Howe Morton (139401) (RAF (Auxiliary Air Force)) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Nicholas Coryndon Shattock (80461) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Edward Francis Stack (402412) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
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, 163/163/124
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line