LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Robert Curtis DAVIE
Service No: 401618
Born: Middle Brighton VIC, 19 March 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 March 1941
Unit: No. 14 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 14 Squadron Marauder aircraft FK139), Aegean Sea, 21 February 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Alexander Davie and Constance Davie, of Cheltenham, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Cheltenham VIC
Remembered: Column 278, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1245 hours on 21February 1943 Marauder FK 139 took off from RAF Shallufa together with eight other Squadron aircraft to attack shipping and harbour installations at Melos Island in the Aegean Sea. FK139 was one of the second wave of aircraft to attack. There is no exact information as to what happened, but one Marauder was seen to catch fire in the harbour and crash into the sea, and another was last seen with its port engine on fire. FK 139 did not return from this mission it was assumed that the aircraft was one of the two missing from this mission.
The crew members of FK139 were:
Flight Sergeant Robert Curtis Davie (401618) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant William John Ernest Glenn (1358073) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Frederick Gotheridge (1147006) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Eric Thomas Harold McClean (1058008) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Hamilton Walker (1063768) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Basil Herbert Yarwood (1067455) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
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, 166/9/37
Bibliography:
Napier, Michael Winged Crusaders: the exploits of 14 Squadron RFC & RAF 1915-1945, Pen & Sword Books, Barnsley UK, 2012