Flight Lieutenant, Royal Australian Air Force
Born: April 29th 1912
Died: December 18th 1939
Age at Death: 27
Killed on active service, December 18th 1939
Hugh was born in Melbourne, Australia, on 29 April 1912, son of Eva and Harold Horner. He moved to the UK in 1928 to attend Brighton College.
Horner returned to Australia in 1929, where he married Winifred and joined the Royal Australian Air Force Station at Point Cook, Victoria. After training at the station, he remained there as a pilot, dying during a navigational flight in an Avro Anson multi-role aircraft on 18 December 1939.
The cause of the crash was mysterious. The coroner concluded that the evidence did not enable him to say what had prompted it. However, he stated: “In my opinion there does appear to be some laxity in the manner in which the planes were serviced before flight.”
He is buried at the Rookwood Crematorium in Sydney.