LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Robert Walker DICKSON
Service No: 401030
Born: Belfast, Ireland, 4 August 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 December 1940 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 21 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 21 Squadron Ventura aircraft AE759), Norfolk, 10 December 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Feltwell (St Nicholas) Churchyard, Norfolk
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walker James Dickson and Violet Josephine Dickson, of Toora, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Toora VIC
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1100 hours on 10 December 1942 Ventura AE759 took off to carry out a ferry flight. The aircraft crashed at Methwold Hyde, 12 miles north west of Thetford, Norfolk. In a later Court of Inquiry an eye witness stated that “the aircraft completed its circuit and set course over one of the hangars. It was travelling at high speed at approximately 300 feet and it appeared to go into a shallow dive.” The witness saw a sheet of flame from the ground and two seconds later he lost the view of the plane behind the hangar.” All on board were killed in the crash.
The crew members of AE759 were:
Flight Sergeant Robert Walker Dickson (401030) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant George William Hatton (1535749) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Richard Davies Jones (656040) (RAF) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Leading Aircraftman Thomas Rutherford (1345498) (RAFVR) (Supernumerary)
Warrant Officer II Garnet Hartford Turcotte (R/85200) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Oswald Wheatcroft Woodhead (1165031) (RAFVR) (Supernumerary)
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, 163/102/86