LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Richard Beauchamp CAMERON
Service No: 404451
Born: Toowoomba QLD, 27 August 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 August 1940
Unit: No. 56 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Duxford, Cambridgeshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 56 Squadron Hurricane aircraft Z3328), North Sea, 24 December 1941, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Kenneth Beauchamp Cameron and Eileen Mary Cameron, of Thallon, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Toowoomba QLD
Remembered: Panel 62, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Flight Sergeant William Beauchamp Cameron (24908)
At night on 24 December 1941 Hurricane Z3328 took off from Duxford to carry out a non-operational sector reconnaissance under control from the Squadron Operations room. At time of take off the weather was clear with bright moonlight and no cloud in the vicinity of base. Elsewhere there were patches of cloud at considerable height. Base kept in regular radio contact with the aircraft. During the latter part of the reconnaissance when Z3328 was at 12,000 feet and approximately 12 miles from base, the Controller gave the aircraft a vector of 280 degrees intending to take the aircraft a short distance to the west, before bringing it back for a landing. This vector was acknowledged by the aircraft. A direction finding plot at the same time indicated that the aircraft was following the instructions. Four minutes later the aircraft was given a vector of 090 degrees to bring him back to land at base, but this was not acknowledged. Repeated calls were made to the aircraft but were not acknowledged. Extensive searches were subsequently carried out but no trace of the missing aircraft or pilot was found. It was later concluded that the aircraft had most likely crashed in the sea off East Anglia, and in 1949 it was recorded that Sergeant Cameron had no known grave.
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, 163/95/200