LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Henry Adolphous ECHIN
(served as Henry Adolphous CHINN, name later corrected)
Service No: 402223
Born: Gunnedah NSW, 27 June 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 July 1940
Unit: No. 405 Squadron (RCAF), RAF Station Pocklington, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 405 Squadron Halifax aircraft W1113), Netherlands, 30 June 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Westellingwerf (Noordwolde) Protestant Churchyard, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: (Served as CHINN). Son of Henry Arnold and Viola Margaret Echin, of Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Gunnedah NSW
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Gunnedah Cenotaph, Gunnedah NSW (listed as Chinn H A)
At 2301 hours on the 29 June 1942, Halifax W1113 took off from Pocklington detailed to bomb Bremen, Germany. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 0148 hours at Noordwolde (Friesland) 16 kms south east of Heervenveen, Holland. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of W1113 were:
Sergeant Reginald Thomas Adams (759300) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Walter Percy Beare (1284966) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant William James Bell (64880) (RCAF) (Observer)
Flight Sergeant Winston James Dickinson (R/84563) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Henry Adolphous Echin (402223) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Jessup Harrell (R/83419) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Paul Patrick Augustus Oneson (R/56246) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Alexander Simpson (571779) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
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 A9300 Barcode 5375462 Digitised Micro Film No 463; AWM65 678 CHINN H A 402223
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line