LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Stewart James HANSEN
Service No: 405408
Born: Gympie QLD, 8 November 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 March 1941
Unit: No. 45 Group (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 45 Group Mitchell aircraft FW138), North Atlantic Ocean, 6 November 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas and Lizzie Ellen Hansen; husband of Dorothy Edna Hansen, of Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Roll of Honour: Gympie QLD
Remembered: Panel 3, Column 1, Ottawa Memorial, Ontario, Canada
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Mitchell FW138 became overdue while on an Atlantic Ferry flight from Canada to the UK. On 6 November 1943 the aircraft departed from Goose Bay en route to Reykjavik, Iceland, and failed to arrive at its destination. It was later concluded that the aircraft and crew members were lost at sea.
The crew members of FW138 were:
Flight Lieutenant William Lionel Halperin (C/4234) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Stewart James Hansen (405408) (Radio Operator)
Flying Officer Aleksander Cezary Monkiewicz (P/1569) (Polish Air Force) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Derrick Joseph Oswald Pyne (114477) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
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, 166/17/370