HARE Roy

Awarded Distinguished Flying Cross.

A letter from H.J. Winnington, Honorary Secretary of PCC, St James Church, Wollaston dated 17th December 1950 can be found within war records held at Worcestershire Archives requesting that Roy Hare be added to the county roll of honour.

The following information has been researched and transcribed by The Black Country Society:
Roy Hare was the son of Walter and Ada Hare of Wollaston and lived at South Road. By 1944 he was Flight Lieutenant (Air Gunner) with 467 (Royal Australian Air Force) Squadron stationed at Waddington, Lincolshire. This squadron was in Bomber Command and was flying Lancasters. In 1943 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (London Gazette 7th December 1943). By the Spring of 1944 operations were focused on the preparations for D-Day and on 11th May his squadron provided part of the force which was involved in an operation to bomb the German base at Bourg Leopold in Nazi occupied Belgium some 30 miles east of Antwerp. Lancaster 1 LL 792 took off at 22.25 for the relatively short distance to Belgium. There was haze over the target which hampered the target marking by Mosquitoes and after half the force had bombed the Master Bomber ordered the raid to be abandoned for fear of hitting civilian houses. Lancaster LL 792, however, was picked up on its bombing run by a German night fighter. It caught fire and exploded over Beverloo, some 3 miles from the target. The air crew seemed exceptionally well qualified. The pilot was Group Captain J.R. Balmer OBE, DFC RAAF. As well as Roy Hare there were 3 other officers in the crew of eight and they all died in the explosion. There were 190 Lancasters in the operation, of which only 5 were lost. The operation was repeated on 27-28th May and this time the base was severely damaged. His parents went to Buckingham Palace in April 1945 to receive his DFC.