LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Hope BRAINE
Service No: 403211
Born: London, England, 30 January 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 4 January 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 221 Squadron (RAF), RAF Luqa, Malta
Died: Air Operations (No. 221 Squadron Wellington aircraft HX600), Central Mediterranean Sea, 7 February 1943, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Major Horace Braine and Evelyn Braine; husband of Sylvia Law Braine, of Cape Town, South Africa. World Professional Ice Skating Champion 1936 and 1937
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 11, Column 1, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wellington HX600 took off from RAF Luqa at 1830Z hours on 7 February 1943 to illuminate a convoy 60 miles east of Sardinia. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. One body was washed ashore on the south coast of Sardinia, and is buried in the British Military cemetery, at Cagliari, Sardinia. It was later recorded that the remaining missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of HX600 were:
Flying Officer Hope Braine (403211) (Pilot)
Sergeant Eric John Ding (407602) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant David Purvis Hamilton (1112238) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Alan Hunt (1150662) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Fred Spencer (1073764) (RAFVR)
Flying Officer Gerald Francis John Waite (67688) (RAFVR)
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 A9300, BRAINE H