LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Harold Bruce OLIVER
Service No: 403368
Born: Armidale NSW, 14 November 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941
Unit: No. 460 Squadron, RAF Station Breighton, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: Early Pathfinder Raids (No. 460 Squadron Lancaster aircraft W4837), off the French Coast, 27 January 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of David William and Gladys Eileen Oliver, of Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Armidale NSW
Remembered: Panel 197, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 108, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Armidale Dumaresq Council War Memorial Library, Armidale NSW
Date: 26-27 January 1943
Target: Lorient
Total Force: Dispatched – 156, Attacking – 122
RAAF Force: No. 460 Dispatched – 3, Attacking – 2; No. 466 Dispatched – 10, Attacking – 9
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 181
Total Aircraft Lost: 2
RAAF Aircraft Lost: No. 460 – 1
The table does not account for the loss of No. 466 Squadron Wellington aircraft HE368.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Page 473
Lancaster W4837 took off from RAF Breighton at 1747 hours on 26 January 1943 detailed to bomb Lorient, France. The bomb load was 2 x 1000 lb (pound) (450 kg) and 1080 x 4 lb (2 kg) incendiaries. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Following post war searches and enquiries when no trace of the missing crew was found, it was recorded in 1950 that they had no known grave. Their names are commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing, Runnymede, Surrey, UK.
The crew members of W4837 were:
Flight Sergeant Walter Edmund Joseph Austin (405618) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Robert Brierley (1499412) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Edwin Atholwood Day (403913) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Norman Talbot Mason (404975) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Stanley James Matthews (14444) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Harold Bruce Oliver (403368) (Pilot)
Sergeant Gordon Robert Sedger (403701) (Navigator)
No. 466 Squadron lost Wellington HE368 (Sergeant Donald Maxwell Lang McKenzie (414726) (RNZAF) (Pilot)) on return from the mission.
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, 166/31/6
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Firkins, P. C. (Peter Charles) (441386) Strike and Return, Westward Ho Publishing City Beach WA, 1985