LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Donald Shaw CORMACK
Service No: 414470
Born: Esk QLD, 1 November 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 October 1941
Unit: No. 34 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 34 Operational Training Unit Ventura aircraft AE665), Gulf of St Lawrence, Canada, 26 January 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William and Isobel Beatrice Cormack, of Esk, Queensland, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Esk QLD
Remembered: Panel 3, Column 1, Ottawa Memorial, Ontario, Canada
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Ventura AE665 of No. 34 Operational Training Unit took off at 1300 hours on 26 January 1943 from Pennfield Ridge on a non-operational cross country navigation exercise. The route was
Base / Bathurst / Point Escuminac / St John / Base. The aircraft did not return to base. The exact place of the accident is unknown, but believed to be off Point Escuminac, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada. It was concluded that the aircraft and crew members were lost at sea.
The crew members of AE665 were:
Pilot Officer Donald Shaw Cormack (414470) (Pilot)
Sergeant Thomas Matthew Hunter (42329) (RNZAF) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Stanley Joseph James (416966) (Navigator)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/8/31