LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Clifton CORNALL
Service No: 402317
Born: Bodmin, England, 18 July 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 August 1940 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 3 Wireless Air Gunners School, Maryborough QLD
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 3 Wireless Air Gunners School Wackett aircraft A3-16), Maryborough, 12 January 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Maryborough War Cemetery, Queensland
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred Thomas Cornall and Mabel Beatrice Cornall, husband of Mavis Alice Cornall, of Double Bay, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 115, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Flying Officer Cornall served with No. 250 Squadron RAF in the Middle East and was captured by the Germans on 30 October 1941 when he was shot down in flames in a dog fight. He was in hospital in Italy and was repatriated to Australia on 19 July 1943, where he was admitted to No. 6 RAAF Hospital, Heidelberg, Victoria.
During a training flight 12 January 1944, Wackett Trainer A3-16 crashed at 0725 hours in a cane field one mile south south east of the Maryborough aerodrome. The engine failed on take off and the Pilot was endeavouring to make a forced landing in a cane field, but the aircraft stalled and dived into the ground.
The crew members of A3-16 were:
Flying Officer Clifton Cornall (402317) (Pilot)
Leading Aircraftman Clive Frederick Wood (432326) (Trainee WAG) Seriously Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 3 October 1945
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, 163/98/343; A9845, 180