LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Frank Herbert HARDMAN
Service No: 413583
Born: Stanmore NSW, 5 February 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 September 1941
Unit: No. 51 Operational Training Unit (RAF), operating from RAF Station Middle Wallop, Hampshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 51 Operational Training Unit Mosquito aircraft HJ914), Hampshire, 8 December 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frank Edward and Anne Edith Hardman, of Ryde, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Ryde NSW
Remembered: Panel 123 Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 8 December 1944, Mosquito HJ914 was detailed to carry out a solo non-operational day flight. The aircraft in company with Warrant Officer Jackson in another Mosquito took off from RAF Middle Wallop at 1145 hours for a cine gun exercise. The weather at the time was eight tenths cloud at 2500 feet lowering to 1500 feet in showers and the visibility was 6 miles but down to a mile or less in showers.
At about 1310 hours, Warrant Officer Hardman called on the radio that the exercise was completed and Warrant Officer Jackson caught a fleeting glimpse of the other aircraft breaking off to port at a height of about 4,000 feet. The aircraft were then between Southampton and Portsmouth. A few minutes later about 1313 hours, two aircraft were seen approaching Fort Southwick from the south east, at about 5/600 feet above ground level, and a hill about 400 feet above sea level. There was a squall passing through the area at the time. One aircraft continued on a north westerly course, but HJ914 was seen to suddenly go into a spin, hit the ground, explode and catch fire. A Flying Accident report stated: “the cause of the accident is obscure, but the following are possibilities: that the Pilot due to inexperience on the type of aircraft, lost control in squally conditions, or that there was structural failure, or failure of controls, which is not apparent from the inspection of a badly damaged aircraft. He should have returned to Middle Wallop, but was flying in the vicinity of the crash for no apparent reason.”
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, 166/17/890