LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Lewis James ABBOTT
Service No: 400167
Born: Lincolnshire, England, 1 August 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 June 1940 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 40 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Luqa
Died: Air Operations: (No. 40 Squadron Wellington aircraft R1066), off the Italian Coast, 6 December 1941, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Salerno War Cemetery, Italy
CWGC Additional Information: No additional information
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1845 hours on the night of 5 December 1941 Wellington R1066 took off from Luqa detailed to carry out operations against Naples, Italy. Nothing was heard from the aircraft and it failed to return to base. One of the Squadron’s aircraft returning from the same operation, reported seeing distress signals at a position 161 degrees about 15 miles from Licato. An Air Sea Rescue launch and aircraft searched the area but no trace of the missing aircraft or crew was found. Post-war, two of the crew members were found to be Prisoners of War.
The crew members of R1066 were:
Sergeant Lewis James Abbott (400167) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Toussaint Joseph Arsenault (R/64533) (RCAF) (Second Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer D F Hutt (67069) (RAFVR) (Pilot) PoW
Pilot Officer I E Miller (102965) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot) PoW
Sergeant William Henry Poole (1284492) (RAFVR) (First Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Arthur John Pyle (103034) (RAFVR) (Observer)
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, 163/85/48