LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Max Milton HICKEY
Service No: 406527
Born: Perth WA, 19 December 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941
Unit: No. 113 Squadron (RAF), Asansol, India
Died: Air Operations: (No. 113 Squadron Blenheim aircraft Z9820), Burma, 19 April 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Clive Edwin Milton Hickey and Lillian Hickey, of Perth, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Column 421, Singapore Memorial, Singapore
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Blenheim Z9820 of 113 Squadron crashed on 19 April 1942 while carrying out a low level attack on an enemy aerodrome at Allanmyo, Burma, near the Irrawaddy river, it being presumed the aircraft was brought down by anti-aircraft fire. The target is approximately 180 miles north west of Rangoon, Burma. Z 9820 set out with other squadron aircraft and the attack was successfully carried out. After the attack, Z 9820 was slightly behind the formation and was seen to dip suddenly and to somersault into a clump of trees. An eye witness to the crash, Sergeant White an air gunner in one of the aircraft stated “the flight of 5 aircraft had just left the target with Z 9820 flying No 4 and a few hundred feet behind the formation. As we turned to port the aircraft appeared to dip slightly and then burst into flames just above tree top height. It then dropped on the trees and somersaulted for a time still in flames. The plane was covered in thick black smoke and smoking fiercely when we were miles away.” In 1953 it was established that the aircraft crashed south of Allanmyo at 1921N 9514E at a village called Thahnga, 20 miles north of Allanmyo. The wreckage was scattered over a wide area, but no remains of the missing crew were located.
The crew members of Z9820 were:
Flight Sergeant Edgar Edwin MacKenzie Campbell (40613) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Max Milton Hickey (406527) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Ronald Llewellyn Rogers (407276) (Observer)
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, 163/36/163
Bibliography:
Gaston, Bruce DFC (406646), Harry Horner DFC OAM (406595), Raymond Storer (406666) (Editors), Aircrew for the Duration: of and by members of RAAF EATS Courses 10, 11, 12 & 13, Gaston Horner and Storer, Nedlands WA, 1990