LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Allan James Neville HOCKLEY
Service No: 420197
Born: Enfield NSW, 12 May 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 October 1941
Unit: No. 214 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Oulton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 214 Squadron Flying Fortress aircraft SR384), Netherlands, 25 May 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Yerseke General Cemetery, Zeeland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter James Hockley and Minnie Blanche Hockley, of Strathfield, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: St Thomas’ Anglican Church WW2 Honour Roll, Enfield NSW
Remembered: Strathfield World War 2 Roll Of Honour, Strathfield NSW
At 2340 hours on the night of 24 May 1944 Fortress SR384 took off from Oulton detailed to carry out a Bomber Support operation to Antwerp. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 0057 hours on the 25 May 1944 into the Oosterschelde. Two crew members were killed and the other seven taken prisoner. Pilot Officer Hockley’s body was washed ashore on 11 June1944 at the port of Yerseke.
The crew members of SR384 were:
Flight Sergeant T D Glenn (1516976) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Flight Sergeant R Y Gundy (426632) (RNZAF) (Air Bomber) PoW
Sergeant W W Hallett (1587281) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Pilot Officer Allan James Neville Hockley (420197) (Pilot)
Sergeant E Lovatt (1590361) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) PoW
Sergeant R F Lloyd (2211370) (RAFVR) (Specialist Operator) PoW
Flight Sergeant Raoul Trichon Lyall (421541) (Navigator) POW, Discharged from the RAAF: 31 October 1945
Sergeant J E McCutchan (R/178606) (RCAF) (Waist Gunner) PoW
Sergeant Raymond George Victor Simpson (1805752) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
In a PoW report the then Warrant Officer Lyall stated: “The aircraft was damaged by flak (4 hits).
The Captain gave the order “abandon” but it was not acknowledged by any of the others. I do not know if any of the others were injured. Flight Sergeant Glenn, Sergeant Lloyd, Flight Sergeant Gundy and Sergeant Hallett all baled out before me, and Sergaent McCutchan was still in the aircraft when I left. I baled out at 2000 feet. The controls of the aircraft were shot away, and we were losing height and making wide circuits with the whole port wing on fire. The aircraft crashed near Tolen, Holland. I landed in a flooded area and was taken in by Dutch people who handed me over to a German patrol a few hours later. Pilot Officer Hockley was killed, and I know nothing about Sergeant Simpson. All the others plus myself were POWs.”
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, 166/18/365
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line