LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Daniel Patrick BOYLE
Service No: 409500
Born: Kalgoorlie WA, 18 March 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 September 1941 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 30 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Hixon
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 30 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft HE468), near Hixon, 15 May 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: St Helens Cemetery, Lancashire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Daniel Francis and Margaret Mary Boyle; husband of Nellie Rosendale Boyle, of Richmond, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Richmond VIC
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the 15 May 1943, Wellington HE468 took off from RAF Hixon for a night navigation sortie. The aircraft returned to base only to dive and crash at 0357 hours out of control at Mountford Farm, Salt Heath. All seven members on board were killed.
The crew members of HE468 were:
Flight Sergeant Daniel Patrick Boyle (409500) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Thomas Joseph Campbell (1281944) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant George Arthur Cure (1577976) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Ernest George Farrow (133785) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant John Clem Hedge (1552095) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Lieutenant Philip Andrew Roberts (158707) (British Army (No. 80 Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery)
Flying Officer Joseph Henry Gray Watson (124488) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
A later Flying Accident report stated: “The aircraft dived almost vertically into the ground after a stall. It was obvious that the aircraft hit the ground at a very high speed and so it must have been at a fair altitude when the pilot lost control. It was not possible to say definitely whether it was owing to a failure to switch on the nacelle tanks. Either alternative would fit in with the evidence available.”
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, 166/6/154