LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer John KINNANE MID
Service No: 407077
Born: Yorketown SA, 15 May 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 27 May 1940
Unit: No. 7 Squadron (RAF), RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire
Awarded the Mentioned in Despatches (MID), 1 January 1942
Died: Air Operations (No. 7 Squadron Stirling aircraft N6013), off the Danish Coast, 1 July 1941, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Esbjerg (Fourfelt) Cemetery, Denmark
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Joseph John and Mary Agnes Kinnane, of Prospect, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Prospect SA
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Stirling N6013 took off from RAF Oakington at 1200 hours on 1 July 1941 to bomb Borkum, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft was last seen north west of Texel circling a dinghy and trying to fight off an attacks by a pair of ME109 aircraft. It was presumed that the aircraft was shot down in this area at about 1515 hours and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of N6013 were:
Pilot Officer Thomas Everest Bolton (45619) (RAF)
Pilot Officer James Gordon Elliott (J/4878) (RCAF)
Sergeant Kenneth Huntley (620452) (RAF)
Flying Officer John Kinnane MID (407077) (Pilot)
Sergeant William George Marsh (1377521) (RAF)
Flight Sergeant Barrie Kendall Nicholls (908683) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Frederick George Taylor (567000) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
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
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/41/49