LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Thomas Albert Charles DAYMOND
Service No: 429762
Born: Wyndham WA, 17 September 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 October 1942
Unit: No. 7 Squadron, Townsville QLD
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 7 Squadron Beaufort aircraft A9-377), Higgins Field QLD, 2 July 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Townsville War Cemetery, QLD
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Albert and Evelyn May Daymond, of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 99, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
On 2 July 1944 Beaufort A9-377 took off from Higgins Field on a travel flight. The aircraft crashed just after take-off about 2 miles east of the north-west end of the runway, and all the crew members were killed. The aircraft dived into the ground at a sharp angle from about 300 feet having completed a normal turn downwind after take-off. The engine revs were heard to increase considerably just before the crash. There was a low ceiling with light rain falling at the time.
The crew members of A9-377 were:
Pilot Officer John William Bracken MID (423608) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Thomas Albert Charles Daymond (429762) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Andrew Frank (427618) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Pilot Officer Lionel Ernest James Parkes (413323) (Wireless Air Gunner)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 254
Bibliography:
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990