LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Alain Morison HARVEY
Service No: 416571
Born: Adelaide SA, 8 July 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 July 1941
Unit: No. 35 Squadron (RAF), RAF Graveley, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 35 Squadron Halifax aircraft DT488), Germany, 24 May 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leslie Morison Harvey and Eileen Llevelys Harvey, of Adelaide, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Adelaide SA
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Halifax DT488 took off from RAF Graveley at 2306 hours on the night of 23/24th May 1943 to bomb Dortmund, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft crashed near Wanne Eickel. Six members of the crew were killed and one became a Prisoner of War.
The crew members of DT488 were:
Pilot Officer Douglas Arthur Norman Evans (130699) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant W R Fairey (526109) (RAF) (Air Gunner) PoW
Sergeant Stanley Groom (568210) (RAF) (Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer Alain Morison Harvey (416571) (Pilot)
Sergeant Jack Raymond Johnson (1087702) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Robert George Pritchard (1511162) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Charles Robert Shields (570643) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Fairey later reported “I’m sorry I do not know what happened to the Captain. The aircraft crashed I believe with the crew on board. I was trapped in the aircraft and was just able to free myself, and was then caught by the Germans.”
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 A705, 166/17/155