LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Noel Herbert BLOCK
Service No: 437364
Born: Prospect SA, 29 March 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 January 1943
Unit: No. 26 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 26 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft BJ754), Buckinghamshire, 25 March 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Oxford (Botley) Cemetery, Oxfordshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick Andreas Block and Florence Elizabeth Block, of Prospect, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Prospect SA
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
On the 25 March 1944, Wellington BJ754 took off from RAF Little Horwood, and during take off at a height of 150-200 feet, the propeller disintegrated, and a piece of the propeller killed the Rear Gunner Sergeant Block, who was seated next to the Pilot, due to the Bomb Aimer taking a turn in the rear turret for experience. The Rear Gunner was struck by a piece of airscrew after it had torn a hole through the side of the fuselage. His seat collapsed and he fell to the floor. The Pilot made a successful belly landing on the airfield, and the rest of the crew members were uninjured.
The crew members of BJ754 were:
Sergeant Noel Herbert Block (437364) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer C B Parden (RAF) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Keith Richard Phillips (436731) (Air Gunner) Discharged from the RAAF: 29 January 1946
Flight Sergeant Raymond Francis James Roeder (424465) (Pilot) Discharged from the RAAF: 5 February 1946
Flight Sergeant Horace George Gradon Tarlington (426182) (Wireless Operator Air) Discharged from the RAAF: 18 January 1946
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, 166/5/479