LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Allan Graham AITCHESON
Service No: 432654
Born: Charters Towers QLD, 27 January 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1943
Unit: No. 30 Squadron
Died: Prisoner of War (Executed) (following the loss of No. 30 Squadron Beaufighter A19-209 on 20 September 1944), New Guinea, 25 January 1945, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery PNG
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leslie Graham Aitcheson and Vera Ettie Victoria Aitcheson, of Royston Park, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Charters Towers QLD
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 20 September 1944, Beaufighter A19-209 was detailed to carry out an offensive sweep from Nasiwag River to Gesen. The aircraft took off from Noemfoor, Dutch New Guinea, at 1243 hours but it failed to return from the mission. It was later established that the aircraft crash landed in the Arandai area. The two crew members were betrayed by natives some days later and became Prisoners of War. After considerable interrogation by the Japanese during which the prisoners were moved to various locations, the two Prisoners were executed by the Japanese on 25 January 1945.
The crew members of A19-209 were:
Sergeant Allan Graham Aitcheson (432654) (Navigator)
Flight Lieutenant Albert James Moody (404896) (Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9301, 432654
Bibliography:
Eames, Jim The Searchers, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia QLD 4067, 1999 – Chapter 2: No Sign of Survivors
Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed, Terry Hills NSW, 1980
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990