LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Austin James COLLINS
Service No: 400871
Born: Dunolly VIC, 1 October 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 November 1940
Unit: No. 22 Squadron
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 22 Squadron Boston aircraft A28-13), off Point Hood PNG, 1 June 1943, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery PNG
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James and Minnie Collins; husband of Patricia Eileen Collins, of Black Rock, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Sandringham VIC
Remembered: Panel 101, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1000 hours on 1 June 1943, Boston A28-13 took off from Wards strip Port Moresby, on a non-operational test flight of its front guns. The aircraft crashed at 1100 hours when it dived into a glassy smooth sea near Hood Point, Papua New Guinea.
The crew members of A28-13 were:
Flight Sergeant Austin James Collins (400871) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Leading Aircraftman John Eames Moore (20932) (Armourer)
Flight Lieutenant Phillip Courtney Mullens DFC (402249) (Pilot)
Sergeant Norman Henry Saill (33313) (Wireless Mechanic)
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, 166/8/127; A9845, 216