LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Arthur Henry HILL
Service No: 401789
Born: Elsternwick VIC, 20 April 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 March 1941
Unit: No. 66 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 66 Squadron Spitfire aircraft BM560), France, 22 August 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Bernay (Ste Croix) Communal Cemetery, Eure, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Henry and Mary Gladys Hill, of Elsternwick, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Caulfield VIC
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 22 August 1943 Spitfire BM560 was one of a formation acting as escort to a force of Marauder bombers. The target area was the Beaumont-le-Roger airfield, France. When the force was on the return journey, 15 to 20 FW190s dived on the Squadron formation from above and from the front. BM560 and No. 66 Squadron Spitfire W3719 (Pilot Officer W Furniss-Roe (141860) (RAFVR) Evaded capture) failed to return from the mission.
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
Franks, Norman L R, Royal Air Force Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 2 Operational Losses: Aircraft and Crews 1942-1943, Midland Publishing UK, 1998
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/122/124