LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Norman BARKER
Service No: 406341
Born: Perth WA, 4 June 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 November 1940
Unit: No. 12 Squadron (RAF), RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 12 Squadron Wellington aircraft BJ777), France, 7 September 1942, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Pornic War Cemetery, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Dr. Gilbert William Barker, and Emma Lilly Barker, of Perth, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Remembered: Honour Avenues, Kings Park WA
Wellington BJ777 took off from RAF Binbrook at 1920 hours on the night of 7 September 1942 to carry out a gardening (mine laying) mission off the French coast in the La Pallice area. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. All five crew members were later reported killed.
The crew members of BJ777 were:
Flight Sergeant John Norman Barker (406341) (Pilot)
Sergeant Joseph Coyne (1057448) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer Philip Valters Hewitt (119746) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Stanley Howlett (119296) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant William Henry McAlwane (654274) (RAF) (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, 163/90/377