LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Harold Ivo McKensey BALDOCK
Service No: 412095
Born: Ashfield NSW, 21 October 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 June 1941
Unit: No. 30 Squadron
Died: Air Operations (No. 30 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft A19-185), Kairiru Strait area PNG, 13 July 1944, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Lae War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Albert Hugh and Aleathea Mary Baldock, of Epping, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Epping War Memorial, Epping NSW
On 13 July 1944, Beaufighter A19-185 was one of five aircraft in three flights detailed to carry out an offensive barge sweep from Dandriwad River to Muschu Island, New Guinea. A19-185 took off from Tadji at 0328 hours. At 0400 hours Flight Lieutenant Sandford in A19-179 called A19-195 on the radio to join in an attack on a barge in the Kairiru Strait. Several attacks were made and at 0430 hours, A19-185 was instructed to cover the area until daylight but A19-185 failed to return from the mission.
The crew members of A19-195 were:
Warrant Officer Neville Abbott (420513) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Harold Ivo McKensey Baldock (412095) (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 A705, 166/5/614; A9845, 21
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
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