LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer John Hamilton STIBBARD
Service No: 421096
Born: Orange NSW, 12 December 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 December 1941
Unit: No. 49 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Fiskerton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 49 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LL976), France, 8 July 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Marissel French National Cemetery, Oise, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Clarence Roy and May Hamilton Stibbard; husband of Gladys Joan Stibbard, of Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Parkes NSW
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Memorial, Department of Main Roads Employees, North Sydney NSW
At 2221 hours on the night of 7 July 1944 Lancaster LL976 took off from Fiskerton detailed to bomb a flying bomb storage depot at St-Leu d’Esserent, France. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter at approximately 2130 hours about 1km south east of Beauvoir-en-Lyons in the Department of Seine-Maritime, 10kms west north west from Gornay-en-Bray. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of LL976 were:
Flying Officer Cyril Baker (175921) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Edwin William Everett (1209151) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Herbert Henry Hewitt (1450742) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Wilfred Higgins (657489) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant John Morris Moss (1606781) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Ronald Eric Nineham (1875420) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Warrant Officer John Hamilton Stibbard (421096) (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, 166/38/596
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line