Australian Deaths in the RAAF/RAF. How did they occur? - Yemen BRIDGLAND, MAURICE EVEREST Pilot Officer 407405 8sq RAF 28/10/1942 30 Royal Australian Air Force Australian H. 157. MAALA CEMETERY BROAD, RONALD ERIC Flight Sergeant 406288 8sq RAF 28/10/1942 26 Royal Australian Air Force Australian H. 156. MAALA CEMETERY KIRK, IAN EWING Sergeant 403220 8sq RAF 20/05/1943 23 Royal Australian Air Force Australian I. 34. MAALA CEMETERY MULLARD, JOHN ERNEST Flight Sergeant 400657 8sq RAF 28/10/1942 27 Royal Australian Air Force Australian H. 155. MAALA CEMETERY STEWART, ALAN DAVID Sergeant 400943 73 O T U 20/06/1942 21 Royal Australian Air Force Australian I. 25. MAALA CEMETERY
Australian Deaths. Hi Spidge, I have no doubt your intentions are worthwhile, however having been off the forum due to an operation, I now find the new posts are completely swamped with your repeat postings. This makes it very difficult to get the general feeling of the queries of the other members. I am sure that a general enquiry aimed at the whole of the WW2 combat areas would have been sufficient. Then letting you have the pleasure of sorting them into their various casuality areas. Cheers Keith
Hi Keith, I am sure you can disregard these threads and go to any that you are interested in. I was called away from the computer before I could finish the postings. The reason for these threads is to have the official cause of death for these flyers if known, the number of the aircraft and to supply all detail and crew listings if available. On of our newer members Dave Barlow will be committing quite a lot of his time in sourcing this important information and we will be doing it by region. Having these threads separately allows those searching our database to read their interest in one thread "instead" of being mixed up with other areas. Another member CXX (Peter) has been making available Air Force details on Europe for many years (thank you Peter) and this too will provide extensive detail to other theatres. Cheers Geoff
Keith, Wind your neck in pal, this is an open forum and anyone has the choice to to or write what they wish within the specific subject. Sniper
Keith, I am aware you have been off the forum for a little while. And I hope the operation went well with no complications. However that does not mean you can insult individuals on this forum, specifically a member of the moderating team without a very good reason for doing so. Spidge has made a very logical choice to break these information requests into relevant countries, as otherwise the postings would be too huge for individuals to get through. As such i have no problem whatsoever with the repeat titles with the country names changed at the end. I use the New Posts button at the top of the portal page, and then respond to threads I need to. i strongly suggest in future you do the same. IF you have any future problems with a members postign style, then please follow internet forum etiquette and contact the relevant person first. if this does not resolve the issue in your mond then you contact the moderator team via PM's in order to resolve the issue. You do not call that person out on the public boards without going through the relevant moderating channels first. Consider this a friendly reminder of forum etiquette. In future I will not tolerate such provocative attempts to begin flame wars on the board. This forum prides itself on being open and friendly and tolerating a hell of a lot from members. What it will not tolerate is such bad manners. :bad:
First batch done BRIDGLAND, MAURICE EVEREST / Pilot Officer / 407405 / 8sq RAF / 28/10/1942 / 30 H. 157. MAALA CEMETERY (ADEN) BROAD, RONALD ERIC / Flight Sergeant / 406288 / 8sq RAF / 28/10/1942 / 26 H. 156. MAALA CEMETERY MULLARD, JOHN ERNEST / Flight Sergeant / 400657 / 8sq RAF / 28/10/1942 / 27 H. 155. MAALA CEMETERY Passenger also killed - YOUNGER, GEORGE KENNETH (Lieutenant); Service Number – 151051 - Royal Artillery - Aden Protectorate Levies Blenheim BA 322; Place - Socotra near Gulf of Aden; Date - 28 October 1942 Originally buried in the Island of Socotra Cemetery (RAS KARMA) – adjacent to a disused unserviceable airfield. Socotra Island is a desert island lying some 130 miles east of Cape Gardafui on the North East point of Africa. 0715 - Collided with another aircraft (BA 477) while taking up position for formation. “Both aircraft flew out to sea, made a left hand turn and flew over the landing ground, with the second aircraft catching up to the leader, piloted by BRIDGLAND. Both machines performed a shallow dive to approximately 150 feet and started to climb away on their course, settling into formation, when the collision took place. The tail unit of BRIDGLAND’s aircraft was sheered, and the aircraft crashed immediately, the crew being killed instantly. The other aircraft turned again attempting to land, but crashed short of the landing ground, the pilot managing to extricate himself and drag his passenger clear.” Pilot of second aircraft was injured - HALL, D H – (Flight Sergeant); Service Number – 1263322 RAF Passenger died from injuries sustained - Major WALKLEY J R S (LA 124 3/15 PUNJAB REGT)
Sergeant Kirk KIRK, IAN EWING / Sergeant / 403220 / 8sq RAF / 20/05/1943 / 23 I. 34. MAALA CEMETERY Blenheim Mk5 BA 927; Place - Aden, Middle East; Date - 20 May 1943 1800 - Night flying – touch and go circuits by moonlight. Kirk was the only occupant of the aircraft which crashed into shallow water in Aden Harbour (Inner Harbour).
Sergeant Stewart I'm having no luck with this one - I'm assuming he died from natural causes or an accident on the ground as there is no mention of an aircraft incident involving this member: STEWART, ALAN DAVID / Sergeant / 400943 / 73 O T U / 20/06/1942 / 21 I. 25. MAALA CEMETERY I'll keep looking, but I'm running out of ideas.....
Passenger in the Aircraft: In Memory of Captain GEORGE KENNETH YOUNGER 151051, Royal Artillery seconded to, Aden Protectorate Levies who died age 31 on 28 October 1942 Son of George Kenneth and Harriet Younger, of Wallasey, Merseyside, England; husband of Muriel C. Younger, of Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England. Remembered with honour MAALA CEMETERY Photo of Maala Cemetery View attachment 3509
It states in his circular that his place of death was "Little Aden" as distinct from Aden. Possibly a vehicle accident whilst off duty?
Seems the pilot of the second aircraft Hall, D H survived the war. The passenger in Hall's aircraft: In Memory of Major J R S WALKLEY LA/124, 3rd Bn., 15th Punjab Regiment who died age 29 on 28 October 1942 Son of Maj. Thomas Walkley, formerly of the R.A.M.C. and Margaret Walkley, husband of Kathleen Edith Walkley, of Chelsea, London, England. Remembered with honour MAALA CEMETERY
Jack Walkley - Infos Major Jack Walkley would have been my Great Uncle had our lives intersected. I am fascinated by the information that I found here regarding his accident back in 1942. I knew (from relatives) that he died in a plane accident but didn't know the details. I was wondering what the source of that information was? Also, I was a little confused (it happens easily I'm afraid!), is Jack Walkley also buried in Maala? Thanks for any additional help/information. -- James Munro
Hi James and welcome. Info is provided by Dave who is presently RAAF. Like the song James, start at the very beginning............................ In normal circumstances this thread would only indentify RAAf lads however with Dave's assistance we are also adding the non RAAF which seems to have been beneficial as you have picked it up. Did googling your Great Uncle's name get you here?
Thanks Spidge, yes I did get here via google and yes, it is very beneficial to me and hopefully to others too. Dave - Hello - I was wondering if you have any more infos on the BRIDGLAND / HALL collision? Also, I assume that 0715 refers to the time of the accident? I saw the picture of the Maala Cemetry - and was wondering if there was a source of more detailed images - I have been doing some googling but so far no luck. Thanks very much.
Major WALKLEY J R S (LA 124 3/15 PUNJAB REGT) James - my info comes from the personnel and / or casualty files for the three RAAF members killed in the incident. The Australian national archives (naa.gov.au) has a reasonable percentage of such files available to be read online. (search by service number, I find it quicker) On the files are copies of crash reports and courts of inquiries and in some cases eye-witness reports etc. It's just a matter of trawling through them to piece together a full picture of what happened. What I have placed on this thread is a synopsis of the incident and more info is probably there to be read if one has the time and inclination to do so. Apparently they were all originally buried on the island, but it was decided that it was too desolate for a cemetery so they were moved to the mainland. The files have details on the move etc. cheers Dave PS - yes 0715 refers to the time of the crash. Quarter past 7 am for the uninitiated
