LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Thomas Whyndam HENDERSON
Service No: 415981
Born: West Guildford WA, 13 October 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 April 1942
Unit: No. 10 Squadron (RAF), RAF Melbourne, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 10 Squadron Halifax aircraft MX532), France, 10 June 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Laval (Valfleury) Communal Cemetery, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas Turnbull Henderson and Muriel Henderson; husband of Ivy Norma McKay Henderson, of North Perth, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 99 Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Remembered: Rathmines Memorial Bowling Club, Rathmines NSW
Remembered: Boans Employees’ World War II Honour Roll (Honour Board reported held at the RAAFA Museum Bull Creek WA)
Pilot Officer Henderson’s name appears to have been incorrectly added to the Rathmines Memorial that remembers RAAF members lost on Maritime Units as he served with No. 10 Squadron RAF and not with No. 10 Squadron RAAF.
On the 10 January 1944, Halifax MX532 took off from RAF Melbourne at 0021 hours, detailed to bomb Laval, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off, and it failed to return to base. All seven crew members were killed and are buried in the Laval (Valfleury) Communal Cemetery.
The crew members of MX 532 were:
Sergeant Leslie Arthur Brotherton (1576786) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Hugh Bradbury (1425774) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Philip Gaines (1549492) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Flying Officer Norman Randall Henderson (144341) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Thomas Whyndam Henderson (415981) (Pilot)
Sergeant Stanley William Peake (1606629) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Edward Charles Wicks (1376921) (RAFVR) (Tail Gunner)
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
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/17/622