Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Maxwell Hope SQUIRES was born in Inverell, NSW on 2nd October, 1923

His parents were Samuel Thomas & Dorothy Margaret SQUIRES

460 SQUADRON RAAF, WORLD WAR 2 FATALITIES
Date of Death: 29 December 1943
Source:
AWM 64 (1/293) AWM 64 (1/294) Appendix B65 AWM 237 (63) (64) AWM 64 (1/313) NAA: A705, 166/19/38

Aircraft Type: Lancaster
Serial number: JB 607
Radio call sign: AR – N
Unit: 460 Sqn RAAF

Summary:
Lancaster JB 607 took off from RAF Binbrook on 29 December 1943 to bomb Berlin. Bomb load 1 x 4000lb bomb, 56 x 30lb and 1230 x 4lb incendiaries. Nothing was heard
from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Twenty three aircraft from the squadron took part in the raid and two of these including JB 607 failed to return.

Crew:
RAAF 412010 PO Stanley, Captain (Pilot)
RAAF 416114 PO Ambrose Edward Blight, (Navigator)
RAAF 413435 Flt Sgt R J Seery, (Bomb Aimer) (POW)
RAF 1534670 Sgt Cyril Seddon, (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
RAF 1803573 Sgt William Albert Henry Squire, (Flight Engineer)
RAF 1424279 Sgt Reginald James Poulter, (Mid Upper Gunner)
RAAF 421518 Flt Sgt Maxwell Hope Squires, (Rear Gunner)

Post war it was established that the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 2239 hours on 29 December 1943 at Kerkrade (Limburg) a Dutch town on the border
with Germany, and approx 8kms north of Aachen.

All the crew were killed except Flt Sgt Seery (RAAF) who became a POW. In his report Flt Sgt Seery stated “I have received no information from the Germans re PO Ireland. Our aircraft exploded and almost immediately I baled out when PO Ireland was still at the controls. I believe he had his chute on attached at all times, but could not say if he was blown out safely or not.”

The remaining six crew members are interred in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Cleves, Germany, approx 40 miles NW of Duisberg.

RAAF 421518 Flt Sgt Maxwell Hope Squires, (Rear Gunner) Aged 20, Son of Samuel Thomas John and Dorothy Margaret Squires, of Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia.
LOVED SON OF MRS. D.SQUIRES, INVERELL, N.S.W. SADLY MISSED

RAAF 412010 PO Stanley James Ireland, Captain (Pilot)
Aged 30, Son of Leslie Joseph and Stella Carrington Ireland, of Glebe, New South Wales, Australia.
SADLY MISSED BY MOTHER, FATHER AND BROTHER LES. R.I.P.

RAAF 416114 PO Blight, Ambrose Edward (Navigator)
Aged 29, Son of William and Margaret Blight; husband of Patricia Collier Blight, of Rose Bay, New South Wales, Australia. DEARLY BELOVED HUSBAND OF PATRICIA

RAF 1534670 Sgt Cyril Seddon, (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Aged 22, Son of Lily Seddon, of Ormskirk, Lancashire.

RAF 1803573 Sgt William Albert Henry Squire, (Flight Engineer)
Aged 19, Son of William Charles and Charlotte Ethel Squire, of Tottenham, Middlesex.
ALWAYS IN OUR THOUGHTS

RAF 1424279 Sgt Reginald James Poulter, (Mid Upper Gunner)
NO AGE OR NOK LISTED