LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Alexander Richards HUNT
Service No: 407364
Born: Mt Barker SA, 23 April 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 14 September 1940
Unit: No. 55 Squadron (RAF), Marsa Gardane, Tunisia
Died: Air Operations (No. 55 Squadron Baltimore aircraft FA276), Tunisia, 2 April 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Sfax War Cemetery, Tunisia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Earl Alexander and Emily May Hunt, of Mount Barker, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Flight Sergeant Hunt along with Sergeant Reginald Norman Ey (407694) (Discharged: 21 September 1945) and Squadron Leader Mills (RAF) evaded capture on 16 March 1942 and succeeding days following the loss of No. 14 Squadron Blenheim aircraft V5446 113 km south west of El Aghelia.
Baltimore FA276 was hit by anti-aircraft fire, burst into flames and crashed at 0820 hours on 2 April 1943, near El Merguequ, 30 kms nort- west of Gabes, Tunisia. All the crew members were killed. Members of No. 55 Squadron later found the wreck of the aircraft and the graves of crew members who had had been buried by the Italians.
The crew members of FA276 were:
Flight Sergeant John Alexander Richards Hunt (407364) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Merrik Oliver Lenox Naper (136171) (RAFVR) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Lieutenant Ian White (78667) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Squadron Leader Charles Leon Wright (39922) (RAF) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
Gunby D (David) and Pelham Temple, Royal Air Force Bomber Losses in the Middle East and Mediterranean, Volume 1 1939-1942, Midland Publishing UK, 2006
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/124/120