LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Robert Paine BOWDEN
Service No: 409073
Born: Albury NSW, 3 April 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 July 1941 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 21 Service Flying Training School (RAF), Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 21 Service Flying Training School Oxford aircraft X7112), near Bulawayo, 30 September 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Bulawayo (Athlone) Cemetery, Zimbabwe
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Percy Robert and Catherine Jean Bowden, of Albury, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Albury NSW
Remembered: Panel 134, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 30 September 1942, Oxford X7112 took off for local formation flying lasting about 40 minutes. Oxford BM784 struck the port aileron of X7112 and part of the training edge and caused loss of control. Both aircraft crashed at about 1100 hours near Sawmilols, and all four crew members from both aircraft were killed.
The crew members of X7112 were:
Sergeant Robert Paine Bowden (409073) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant James Rhys Lewis (1148261) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
The crew members of BM784 were:
Sergeant Edward Mervyn Roberts (1316619) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant David Meurig Thomas (1316660) (RAFVR) (Second 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, 163/93/690
Bibliography:
Winter, V.A. (Vincent Adams) Noble Six Hundred: the story of the Empire Air Training Scheme with special reference to Australians who trained in Southern Rhodesia, V.A. Winter Brighton VIC 3186, 1982