LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Ernest William BALDWIN
Service No: 419948
Born: St Arnaud VIC, 25 May 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 October 1942
Unit: No. 17 Operational Training Unit (RAF), Satellite airfield RAF Station Turweston, Buckinghamshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 17 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft BK352), Hampshire, 17 March 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Oxford (Botley) Cemetery, Oxfordshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred James Baldwin and Marion Ethel Baldwin, of Gre Gre South, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: St Arnaud VIC
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wellington BK352 took off from RAF Turweston at 0055 hours on the night of 17th March 1944, detailed to carry out night circuit training. The aircraft overshot and crashed at 0105 hours, coming down near Brackley airfield, Winchester, and caught fire. Six of the crew members were killed.
The crew members of BK352 were:
Flight Sergeant Ernest William Baldwin (419948) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Peter John Calder (417799) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer Roy Dennis DFM (162836) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Thomas John Greenhill (430099) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Donald Stephen Robinson (1061047) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Douglas George Small (423551) (Air Gunner) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 11 March 1946
Sergeant John James Owen Walters (1652405) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/5/464