LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John HARPER
Service No: 421975
Born: County Durham, England, 14 June 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 April 1942 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 10 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Melbourne, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 10 Squadron Halifax aircraft HX181), Sussex, 19 November 1943, Aged 28 Years
Buried: East Murton, Cold Heston and Dalton-Le-Dale Burial Ground, Durham
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Matthew Henry and Margaret Annie Harper; husband of Edythe Patricia Harper, of Paxton, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Cessnock NSW
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cessnock War Memorial, Cessnock NSW
At 1622 hours on 19 November 1943, Halifax HX181 took off from Melbourne to attack Leverkusen, Germany and crashed onto a hangar at Tangmere airfield, Sussex, at 2135 hours on return from the mission. All the crew members were killed in the crash.
The crew members of HX181 were:
Sergeant Robert Vernon Downs (1119224) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant John Harper (421975) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Benjamin Holdsworth (1015613) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Albert James Oudinot (1397140) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Charles Edward Smith (1338514) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Raymond James Harry Steel (578363) (RAF)
Sergeant Clive Telfer (1390942) (RAFVR)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 4 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1943, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1996
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/17/378
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line