LEST WE FORGET
Lieutenant Jack Keith CURWEN-WALKER
Service No: Not Assigned
Born: Windsor VIC, 18 March 1888
Enlisted in the Army: 5 October 1916
Unit: No. 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps
Died: Air Operations (No. 1 Squadron Bristol Fighter aircraft A7198), Palestine, 3 May 1918, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Ramleh War Cemetery, Palestine
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Lucy and the late John Christian Curwen-Walker, of 27, Valentine Grove, Malvern, Victoria, Australia. Native of Windsor, Victoria
Place of Association: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 188, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
The days of the withdrawal (May 3rd and 4th) saw every available machine from No. 1 Squadron over the east-Jordan area. The knowledge that the light horse were involved in a difficult retreat was the keenest spur to the Australian airmen, most of whom had aforetime been light horsemen. May 3rd was marred by an accident to Lieutenant J. K. Curwen- Walker and Corporal N. P. B. Jensen in a Bristol Fighter (1) which got into a spin and crashed as it was leaving the aerodrome at dawn.
(1) Bristol Fighter aircraft A7198
Extract from Cutlack, F.M. (Frederic Morley) The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War 1914-8, Angus and Robertson Ltd Sydney, 1941 – Page 118
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record B2455, CURWEN-WALKER J K
National Archives UK RAF Casualty Card 268898, 67820
Bibliography:
Lax, M. (Mark) (editor) One Man’s War: Aircraft Mechanic Joe Bull’s Personal diaries 1916-9, Banner Books, Maryborough QLD 4650, 1997
Roberts, E.G. (Eric Glendower) (250197) Box Kites and Beyond, The Hawthorn Press Melbourne VIC 3000, 1976
Sutherland, L. W. (Leslie) Aces and Kings, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1935
Williams, Sir R. (Richard) (1) These are Facts: the Autobiography of Air Marshal Sir Richard Williams KBE, CB, DSO, Australian War Memorial and Australian Government Publishing Service, 1977 – Chapters 3-9