LEST WE FORGET
Wing Commander Harley Charles STUMM DFC
Commanding Officer, No 45 Squadron RAF
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 70656 (RAF)
Born: Date, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 45 Squadron (RAF), Yelahanka, India
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 45 Squadron Mosquito aircraft HP939), Calcutta (Kolkata), 13 May 1944, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Madras War Cemetery, Chennai, India
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles William and Nellie Stumm, of Chelmer, Queensland, Australia; husband of Lorraine Juliet Stumm, of Hazelbrook, New South Wales, Australia. B.A. (Queensland University); B.A., B.C.L. (Oxon); Rhodes Scholar
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Commemorative Roll, Australian War Memorial, Canberra
Two of the outstanding Australian pilots in the Burma-India theatre were, in 1944, commanders of Mosquito squadrons. One of them, Wing Commander Harley Charles Stumm (70656) (RAF), who commanded No. 45 Squadron, was killed on 13th May 1944, during the conversion of his Squadron from Vengeance to Mosquito aircraft. His companion, Flight Lieutenant Walter James McKerracher DFM (406099) was also killed.
Odgers, G. (George) (VX127783) Air War Against Japan 1943-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1957 – Page 417
References:
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/38/534
Bibliography:
RAAF Directorate of Public Relations, RAAF Saga, Australian War Memorial Canberra, 1944 – Chapter: Burma’s Story