LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Dudley Reginald ATKINS DFC
Service No: 413940
Born: Arncliffe NSW, 13 November 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1941
Unit: No. 1 Operational Training Unit, RAAF East Sale VIC
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), 9 March 1945 (Citation Title: No. 8 Squadron)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1 Operational Training Unit Beaufort aircraft A9-587), East Sale, 2 July 1945, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Sale War Cemetery, VIC
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leslie Norman and Jessie Fraser Atkins, of Arncliffe, New South Wales; husband of Enid Belle Atkins, of Stanmore, New South Wales.
Roll of Honour: Arncliffe NSW
Remembered: Panel 112, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
DFC Citation: “Flying Officer Atkins took part in torpedo strikes at Rabaul and completed daylight bombing missions successfully. He proved himself to be an excellent flight commander, whose powers of command and qualities of leadership have resulted in a most efficient flight.” (London Gazette 5 March 1946 Page 1234)
Flight Lieutenant Atkins’s DFC was awarded as the result of air operations in which No. 8 Squadron lost Beaufort aircraft A9-244 (Flight Lieutenant Godfrey Hubert Vincent (400866) (Pilot)) on 21 October 1943.
On 2 July, Beaufort A9-587 crashed into a paddock several hundred yards beyond the duty pilots’ tower. The tip of the Beaufort’s airscrew had snapped off and flew into the cockpit and the two crew members died when the aeroplane hit the ground and caught fire.
Extract from Lax, M. (Mark) (editor) Always Ready: a history of RAAF East Sale, RAAF Publications Unit Melbourne VIC, 1993 – Page 43
The two crew members of A9-587 were:
Flight Lieutenant Dudley Reginald Atkins DFC (413940) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Herbert Elgar Mofflin (436087) (Second Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 262