LEST WE FORGET

Squadron Leader Alan Thomas CRIDLAND

Service No: 260424
Born: 18 October 1908, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit Lightning aircraft A55-2), near Livingstone NT, 20 November 1942, Aged 34 Years
Buried: Adelaide River War Cemetery, Northern Territory
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Donald William Francis and Harriet Salina Cridland; husband of Margaret Cridland, of Edgecliff, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Cronulla NSW
Remembered: Panel 104, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

On the 20 November 1942, Lockheed Lightning A55-2 was detailed to carry out a non-operational engine test. The test was to be at all heights up to 30,000 feet and radio contact was to be maintained. The aircraft took off from Hughes at about 1030 hours. At about 1150 hours the aircraft was seen circling the aerodrome at 5000 feet, and the starboard airscrew was fully feathered. While across wind and its second circuit with flaps and undercarriage lowered, it appeared that the Pilot misjudged the approach because when only a few hundred feet up he put on engine and turned to the west of Hughes. At about 1210 hours the aircraft crashed and burned two miles west of the Livingstone Field.

References:

Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/26/288; A9845, 95

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