LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Philip Maxwell BURNS
Service No: 421242
Born: Mosman NSW, 20 November 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 January 1942
Unit: No. 31 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: Crisis in the Atlantic (No. 31 Operational Training Unit Hudson aircraft AM773), 19 April 1943, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Truro (Terrace Hill) Cemetery, Nova Scotia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Mostyn Burns and Rita Winifred Burns, of Kogarah, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Bathurst NSW
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre, Bathurst NSW
Remembered: Coonamble War Memorial, Coonamble NSW
Remembered: Commonwealth Bank of Australia Honour Rolls, Sydney NSW
On the night of 18/19 April 1943, Hudson AM773 took off on an anti-submarine patrol. Nothing was heard from the aircraft and it failed to return to base. Sergeant Burns’ body was recovered from the sea on 4 July 1943.
The crew members of AM773 were:
Sergeant Philip Maxwell Burns (421242) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant John Archibald Gillis (R/104470) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Jeffrey Howard-Bangs (49980) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Arnold Longstaff (645930) (RAF) (Staff Wireless Operator)
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, 166/6/109
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Christie, C.A. (Carl Andrew) Ocean Bridge: The History of RAF Ferry Command, University of Toronto Press Toronto Canada, 1995