LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Stanley George HILL
Service No: 433122
Born: Narrabri NSW, 20 January 1925
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 February 1943
Unit: No. 4 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Ground Accident, Invergordon, Scotland, 17 May 1944, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harry Alfred and Emma See Hill, of North Junee, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brooklyn NSW
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 17 May 1944, Sergeant Hill (an Air Gunner), died from a gun shot wound to the upper part of the leg. The crew had just completed an operational flight exercise in the Sunderland aircraft, and the Air Gunners and a Maintenance Armourer were engaged in removing and cleaning the guns at the time of the accident. It would seem from the findings of the Court of Inquiry that the gun was not unloaded after the air firing was carried out. A summary of the evidence was taken pending Court Martial of the personnel involved. An armourer had partially stripped the gun, and on reassembling, the gun fired, and shot Hill in the upper part of the leg. Hill died a few hours later. The accident occurred in the tail compartment of the aircraft, the gun apparently resting on the fitter’s bench at the time. How the gun came to be loaded was under investigation.
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, 166/17/588