LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant Howard Jeffrey TOLHURST

Service No: 433279
Born: Sydney NSW, 11 September 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 March 1943
Unit: No. 466 Squadron, RAF Driffield, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 466 Squadron Halifax aircraft NR132), Germany, 5 November 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Earnest Albert and Edith May Tolhurst, of Normanhurst, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 110, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: St Paul’s Wahroonga War Memorial Hall, Wahroonga NSW

Date: 4-5 November 1944
Target: Bochum
Total Force: Dispatched – 749, Attacking – 706
RAAF Force: No. 460 Dispatched – 15, Attacking – 14; No. 462 Dispatched – 13, Attacking – 13; No. 466 Dispatched – 16, Attacking – 15
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 3,332
Total Aircraft Lost: 25
RAAF Aircraft Lost: No. 466 – 2

Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Over Europe 1944-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963 – Page 303

Halifax NR132 took off from RAF Driffield at 1717 hours on the night of 4/5th November 1944 to bomb Bochum, Germany. Fifteen aircraft from the Squadron took part in the raid and two of these including NR132 failed to return.

The crew members of NR132 were:

Sergeant Francis Caffrey (1892512) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Charles Norman Roy Dodgson (428517) (Pilot) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 20 December 1945
Pilot Officer Evered Austin McCasker (425408) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Stirling McLay (434647) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Edward Maxwell Ryder (436485) (Navigator)
Warrant Officer Robert Douglas Stopher (415695) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Howard Jeffrey Tolhurst (433279) (Bomb Aimer)

In a 1945 report by the then Flying Officer Dodgson he stated “I did not bale out but was blown out by the explosion. The first fighter attack set fire to the fuselage and I told the Engineer to try to put out the fire and warned the crew to put on chutes. Another attack set fire to the starboard outer, I feathered the prop but fuel was leaking out and burning. The fire got worse and I told the crew to jump. A few minutes later the starboard wing broke off at the outer engine nacelle and the aircraft spun. I put on my chute and the aircraft exploded but did see the front crew position and it was empty with the front escape hatch open. Before the explosion I used the call light for the jump and continued to call jump on Intercom later tossing off my helmet and yelling likewise. Received acknowledgement from the Mid Upper Gunner only. Had no indication that any of the crew were injured. The aircraft crashed in about the centre of a triangle Koln, Duren, Dusseldorf. I fell near an Anti-aircraft battery and caught almost immediately. Landed besides the burning aircraft. A German interrogation officer said all the crew were dead found with their parachutes on but all failed to open. A Russian worker in the hospital said that some aircrew had been killed by civilians the night before (4/11) in the town about 4 miles from the crash. Released 22 May 1945.”

No. 466 Squadron lost Halifax LV936 (Pilot Officer Alexander Duncan (38367) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)) on 4/5 November 1944.

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, 166/40/281
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line

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