LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer John James CAIN
Service No: 1446
Born: Bendigo VIC, 16 December 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 June 1939
Unit: No. 30 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 30 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft A19-133), New Britain, 19 September 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Lae War Cemetery PNG
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Albert Samuel and Edith May Cain, of Bendigo, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Castlemaine VIC
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At about 0651 hours on the 19 September 1943, Beaufighter A19-133 was one of eight aircraft that took off from the Vivigani strip, Goodenough Island, detailed to strike enemy shipping and installations at Cape Hoskins, New Britain. At 0843 hours A19-133 crashed about 7 miles from the airstrip at Cape Hoskins and both the crew members were killed. Another aircraft heard Wing Commander Glasscock call on radio to say they had been hit in the petrol tank, and that “My port motor is haywire and she’s shaking to pieces”, “I am baling out – come up the front” and “Are you right boy, I am going now”. The aircraft was seen burning on the ground, and no parachutes were seen in the air. In 1946, the remains of the crew were recovered by a RAAF search party.
The crew members of A19-133 were:
Flying Officer John James Cain (1446) (Wireless Air/Observer)
Wing Commander Clarence Parsons Glasscock DFC (260092) (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, 166/7/199; A9845, 18
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