LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Ernest Charles HUTTON
Service No: 407432
Born: Adelaide SA, 29 July 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 October 1940
Unit: No. 97 Squadron (RAF), RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 97 Squadron Manchester aircraft R5792), Norfolk, 24 November 1941, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Coningsby Cemetery, Lincolnshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Robert Stephen and Mary Agnes Hutton; husband of Myrtle Jean Hutton, of Mallala, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Hamley Bridge SA
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Manchester R5792 on 24 November 1941 was on a training exercise, when it collided in mid air with Hurricane V6864 from No. 57 Operational Training Unit. It crashed at 1155 hours at Walpole St Andrew, 7 kms west south west of King’s Lynn near the Hutton Bridge aerodrome. All the crew members were killed and the pilot of the Hurricane also lost his life.
The crew members of R5792 were:
Sergeant Jesse Few (614026) (RAF) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Henry Thomas Hill (82677) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Fred Holt (1007372) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Eric Charles Hutton (407432) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Francis Edward Martin (1198837) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Newton (994648) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Flight Sergeant Arthur Carriss Smith (745479) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
The pilot of V6864 was Sergeant George Arthur Johnstone (1212187) (RAFVR).
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Chorley W R Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War – Volume 2 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1941, Midland Counties Publications Leicester UK, 1993
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/124/95