LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Donald Jack HOOKINGS
Service No: 407173
Born: Port Lincoln SA, 26 March 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 July 1940
Unit: No. 9 Squadron, Bowen QLD
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 9 Squadron Seagull aircraft A2-9), off the Queensland Coast, 8 February 1943, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Townsville War Cemetery, QLD
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter John and Eva Agnes Hookings; husband of Audrey Harrison Hookings, of Broadview, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Adelaide SA
Remembered: Panel 99, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Remembered: Catalina Base Memorial, Rathmines NSW
Remembered: Rathmines Memorial Bowling Club, Rathmines NSW
On 8 February 1943, Seagull A2-9 crashed during bombing practice in the vicinity of Stone Island, near Bowen Queensland. The crew members were:
Flight Lieutenant Donald Jack Hookings (407173) (Pilot under instruction)
Lieutenant John Henry McWhae (Royal Navy) (Pilot Instructor) (No. 700 Squadron Fleet Air Arm, HMS Devonshire)
Pilot Officer Edward Charles Sherwood Seller (401320) (Pilot under instruction)
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 A9300, HOOKINGS D J
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Gillett, R. (Ross) Wings Across the Sea: the first ever complete history of naval aviation from the first world war to the present, Aerospace Publications, 1988