LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Henry BARNETT
Service No: 427611
Born: Perth WA, 30 June 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 August 1942
Unit: No. 170 Squadron (RAF), RAF Hemswell, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 170 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB206), Germany, 29 December 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick Alfred and Evelyn Doris May Barnett, of Wembley, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Lancaster PB206 took off from RAF Hemswell at 1506 hours on the night of 29 December 1944, detailed to bomb Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team late reported “the aircraft crashed at Hamm Bossendorf on 29 December 1944.” All the crew were killed.
The crew members of PB 206 were:
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Henry Barnett (427611) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant George Faulkner (849211) (RAF (Auxiliary Air Force)) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer John Oldham Hawdon (67123) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Francis Everard Hodgson (81736) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Henry Ross (178539) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Stanley Bernard Shaw (1651549) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer Jack Stevenson (188909) (RAFVR) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/5/868