Vincent Hallas (1922-1941) [553968, Sergeant, 102 Squadron, Royal Air Force] ✓
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- born 30 June 1922 at Lockwood (Q3 1922 Huddersfield née Hallas)
- son of Beatrice Hallas (daughter of Thomas & Mary Elizabeth Hallas)
- died 13 March 1941
- commemorated on the Roll of Honour at St. Barnabas, Lockwood
Records:
- 1921 Census (FindMyPast) – 225 Yews Hill Road, Lockwood (mother: stocking knitter)
Links:
- CWGC
- Ancestry
- Aviation Safety Network – Accident Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk V T4326, Thursday 13 March 1941
- “The aircraft was coned by searchlights and shot down by night fighter pilot Oberleutnant Heinrich Wohlers of the 8./NJG 1, who was flying a Bf 110 from Rheine airfield, Germany.”
- B3A – Crash of an Armstrong Whitworth AW.38 Whitley V in Noord Deurningen: 4 killed
- “The airplane departed RAF Topcliffe at 1940LT on March 12 on an operation to Berlin. While returning to base, it was shot down by the pilot of a German Me.110 and crashed in Noord Deurningen. Four crew members were killed and a fifth became PoW.”
- Aircrew Remembered – 12/13.03.1941 No 102 Squadron Whitley V T4326 DY-K Fl/Lt. Long DFC.
Articles:
- Huddersfield Examiner (22/Mar/1941) – Lockwood Air Gunner Missing
- Huddersfield Examiner (29/Mar/1941) – In the Forces
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Huddersfield Examiner (03/Nov/2001):
Tribute to a teenage war hero
by Jenny Parkin
A memorial to a young Huddersfield airman who lost his life in the Second World War is to be unveiled in Holland.
Rear gunner Vincent Hallas was just 18 when his bomber plane was shot down by the Germans on the way to a raid on March 13, 1941.
The teenager and his four fellow crew members died.
Now the people of Denekamp, the small town on the German border where the Whitley bomber came down in a farmer’s field, will commemorate the men’s lives.
Sgt Hallas’s cousin David Cussans, 76, of Salendine Nook, will attend a special ceremony, probably next March — the 61st anniversary of the crash.
The retired textile businessman said: “They aimed to have the event this year but put it back because of the foot and mouth risk. I saw the plans reported in a newspaper. The organisers were appealing for relatives to get in touch, so I called. Now I have been invited with my wife Nancy to Denekamp and I am waiting for further details.”
Sgt Hallas was brought up in Lockwood by his grandfather, Thornton Hallas.
Mr Cussans, who has three children and six grandchildren, said: “Our mothers were sisters and we were buddies. He was more like a brother to me than my own siblings, who were five or more years older than me. I was 16 when Vincent died. His grandfather was devastated. He heard the news by telegram as was normal in those circumstances. Vincent was mad on radio and worked with radio equipment in the RAF. He was also keen on nature and the countryside.”
Mr Cussans was planning a trip to Holland to see Sgt Hallas’s grave in a Denekamp churchyard so the invitation to stay as guests of the Dutch authorities was particularly welcome.
Mr Cussans, who served in the Royal Navy in the Far East, still has his cousin’s bombing log book — handed to his family among his possessions after his death.
Anyone else who knew Sgt Hallas and would like details about the ceremony should call Tom Wingham of the Squadron Association.
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