LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant James Maxwell HULMES
Service No: 432551
Born: Chatswood NSW, 18 November 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 January 1943
Unit: No. 624 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 624 Squadron Halifax aircraft JN896), off the Spanish Coast, 14 August 1944, Aged 19 years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Andrew Percy and Minnie Enid Hulmes, of Croydon, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 16, Column 2, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: St Stephen’s Church Book of Remembrance, Willoughby NSW
At 2302 hours on 13 August 1944 Halifax JN896 took off to carry out a supply drop mission in Southern France. A wireless message was received from JN896 at 0220 hours on 14 August 1944, but nothing further was heard and the aircraft failed to return from the mission. On 15 August a signal was received from Gibraltar, that an unidentified aircraft was seen to explode and dive into the sea between Palamos and San Filiu de Guixols on the north east coast of Spain, with the plane crashing about 6 miles off shore. This area was close to the calculated position of JN896. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of JN896 were:
Flying Officer Walter George Driscoll (151252) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant James Maxwell Hulmes (432551) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Edmund Hurst (528937) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Frederick Davidson Laing (J/90303) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Edwin Garnet Lambert (1391779) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer Cecil Henry Luxon (152771) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Leopold William Neale (425206) (RNZAF) (Navigator)
Warrant Officer William Norman Procter (R/114451) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Norman Soulsby (985124) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
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, 166/18/442
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line