LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Maxwell Elliott WHITEHILL
Service No: 407022
Born: Gawler SA, 29 April 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 April 1940
Unit: No. 49 Squadron (RAF), RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 49 Squadron Lancaster aircraft L7469), North Sea, 7 June 1942, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Sage War Cemetery, Oldenburg, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Herbert Adam and Ethel Whitehill; husband of Jean Bessie Whitehill, of Colonel Light Gardens, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: St Peters SA
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Lancaster L7469 took off from RAF Scampton at 2313 hours on the night of 6 June 1942 to bomb Essen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. All of the crew members lost their lives and it was presumed the aircraft was lost over the sea.
The crew members of L7469 were:
Sergeant Albert Francois Buttel (403717) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Douglas Stephen Halliday (1360282) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Lewis James Jones (924063) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Squadron Leader Peter Morrice De Mestre DSO DFC (41678) (RAF) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Ronald Henry James Thorndyke (119173) (RAF) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Maxwell Elliott Whitehill (407022) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant George Clive Whitfield (1166974) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
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, 163/177/279