LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Thomas Louis BUBKE
Service No: 425271
Born: Biggenden QLD, 13 October 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 February 1942
Unit: No. 5 Operational Training Unit
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 5 Operational Training Unit Beaufighter aircraft A19-131), near Port Stephens NSW, 10 April 1945, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Newcastle (Sandgate) War Cemetery, NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Louis William and Mary Bubke; husband of Mavis Lillian Bubke, of Maryborough, Queensland
Roll of Honour: Maryborough QLD
Remembered: Panel 112, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: The Capt. Clarence Smith Jeffries (V.C.) and Pte. William Matthew Currey (V.C.) Memorial Wall, Sandgate NSW
On 10 April 1945, Beaufighter A19-131 crashed one mile north-west of the Tea Gardens at Port Stephens and the crew members were killed. The aircraft had been detailed to carry out a general familiarisation flight of steep turns, one engine flying and low flying. It had been emphasised to the pilot that he was not to let the dead engine get too cold and that the low flying should not be below 100 feet. At approximately 1445 hours, the Volunteer Air Observers Corps at the Tea Gardens reported that an aircraft had crashed. They had received information from a civilian who stated that he had heard back firing and saw smoke and flame coming from the aircraft just before it crashed. The indications at the crash site were that the Pilot had been trying to make a forced landing and made a turn at the last moment to avoid some trees.
The crew members of A19-151 were:
Warrant Officer Thomas Louis Bubke (425271) (Navigator Wireless)
Flying Officer Douglas Godfrey Vincent Forster (426571) (Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/6/1067; A9845, 18
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