LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Joseph Albert HOPPER
Service No: 37259
Born: Marrickville NSW, 28 November 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 June 1941
Unit: No. 34 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 34 Squadron Hurricane aircraft LE701), Palel, India, 17 August 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Imphal War Cemetery, India
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Joseph Claude and Violet Hopper, of Dulwich Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Dulwich Hill NSW
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Australia’s Memorial Walk, Manly NSW
At Palel on 17 August 1944 Warrant Officer Hopper was carrying a test flight on a new Hurricane aircraft LE701 when at about 1050Z hours, the aircraft spun after a steep turn, the spin was corrected and it then spun again, crashed into the ground and burst into flames. Warrant Officer Hopper was killed in the crash.
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, 166/18/437
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line