LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Hector Ferdinand ALTUS
Service No: 416819
Born: Lameroo SA, 4 August 1910
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 October 1941
Unit: No. 9 Squadron (RAF), RAF Bardney, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 9 Squadron Lancaster aircraft DV284), Germany, 19 November 1943, Aged 33 Years
Buried: Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Maria Pauline Altus, of Wilkawatt, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Wilkawatt SA
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Lancaster DV284 took off from RAF Bardney at 1725 hours on the night of 18/19th November 1943 to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. Post war it was established that the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed at 2153 hours approximately 1 km west of Burgwerben and 2 kms north of Weissenfels, a town 35 kms south west of Leipzig, Germany. All the crew members were killed and they are interred in the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery.
The crew members of DV284 were:
Flight Sergeant Hector Ferdinand Altus (416819) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Gordon Allan Graham (J/18225) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Ronald McKenzie Inness (1551722) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer Duncan MacDonald (139297) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer John Graham McComb (161589) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Kenneth Mellor (1230793) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Walter George Statham (1536256) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Arthur Fenwick Williamson (1036493) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air 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, 166/3/141