LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant William Wallace HOPPER
Service No: 425939
Born: Taree NSW, 9 January 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 May 1942 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 1 Air Observers School
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1 Air Observers School Fairey Battle aircraft 5094), near Evans Head NSW, 14 January 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Evans Head War Cemetery, NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William George and Lydia Catherine Hopper, of Byron Bay
Roll of Honour: Byron Bay NSW
Remembered: Panel 116, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Byron Bay War Memorial Gates and Memorial Park Sports Fields, Byron Bay NSW
During a gunnery exercise on 14 January 1944, Fairey Battle 5094 crashed at the South Ambulance Point eight miles south west of Evans Head and the crew members were killed. The aircraft collided with a drogue hut while low flying in disobedience of orders and it climbed steeply to about 400 feet and then crashed.
The crew members of 5094 were:
Leading Aircraftman Dudley Frank Grimsey (435169) (Trainee Observer)
Leading Aircraftman George Herbert Harrison (433593) (Trainee Observer)
Sergeant William Wallace Hopper (425939) (Pilot)
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, 166/18/254
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line