LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Hume Melville STAFFORD
Service No: 409485
Born: Mildura VIC, 14 June 1911
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 September 1941
Unit: No. 156 Squadron (RAF), RAF Warboys, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 156 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JA681), North West Europe, 3 September 1943, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alex and Jean Diana Stafford; husband of Eileen Grace Stafford, of Nathalia, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Nyah West VIC
Remembered: Panel 187, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster JA681 of 156 Squadron took off from RAF Station Warboys at 1948 hours on 3 September 1943, to carry out a bombing attack on Berlin. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. All the crew are missing and have no known graves.
The crew members of JA681 were:
Pilot Officer John Cyril Collins (406772) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Neil Howard Denyer (413552) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer David Laing Dodds (411243) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Tom Hoyle (47729) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Michael O’Meara Shanahan (412714) (Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant Hume Melville Stafford (409485) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant George Wilson (522964) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper 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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/38/271