LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Knox William HEGGATON
Service No: 402924
Born: Murwillumbah NSW, 11 March 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 November 1940
Unit: No. 59 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station North Cotes
Died: Air Operations: (No. 59 Squadron Hudson aircraft V9163), North Sea, 11 May 1942, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Rupert Dufty Heggaton and Elizabeth Louisa Heggaton, of Murrumburrah, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Murwillumbah NSW
Remembered: Panel 111, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Harden-Murrumburrah War Memorial Wall, Harden NSW
Remembered: Heggaton Memorial, Harden NSW
Brother of Corporal Vaudan Duffy Heggaton (NX68823) Australian Army, Died: Prisoner of War (Illness, Myanmar): 27 October 1942
At 1145 hours on 11 May 1942 Hudson V9163 took off from North Cotes to carry out a strike against enemy shipping off the Dutch coast. V9163 was accompanied by two other squadron aircraft. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. The aircraft was lost and the four crew members were killed.
The crew members of V9163 were:
Flight Sergeant Patrick Joseph Donaghy (6501) (Observer)
Sergeant Knox William Heggaton (402924) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Kenneth William Kermode (402363) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Chandos Scouller (402674) (Pilot)
Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was established that Flight Sergeant Scouller’s body was washed ashore on the Island of Heligoland. Germnan documents also confirmed that the remains of Flight Sergeant Donaghy and Sergeant Heggaton were recovered from the sea, but the location of their graves could not be established.
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, 163/120/451
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line