LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Herbert Eldon BEALE MID
Service No: 403021
Born: Melbourne VIC, 7 May 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 December 1940 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 179 Squadron (RAF)
Awarded the Mentioned in Despatches (MID)
Died: Air Operations (No. 179 Squadron Wellington aircraft HX690), Western Mediterranean, 21 January 1943, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Bone War Cemetery, Annaba, Algeria
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Francis Joseph and Myrtle Gwendoline Beale, of Killara, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Ku-ring-gai World War II Book of Remembrance, Gordon NSW
Brother of Flying Officer Francis Bruce Beale (402842)
At 2200 hours on 21 January 1943 Wellington HX690 took off from Gibraltar to carry out an anti-submarine patrol in the Mediterranean. No communication was received from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to Base. It was suspected that the aircraft was shot down while attacking a U boat.
The crew members of HX690 were:
Pilot Officer Herbert Eldon Beale MID (403021) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Henry Brown (1107562) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Brian Withers Carmichael (J/9641) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Terence Harry Gordon-Glassford MID (402658) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer George Edward Harvey (144013) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flying Officer John Saynor Hustler (121472) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
The body of Pilot Officer Beale were washed ashore some miles east of Phillipeville, Algeria, but there was no trace of any other members of the crew who were recorded as lost at sea.
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, 166/5/20
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line