LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Frederick DOEPEL
Service No: 412925
Born: Bellingen NSW, 9 October 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 6 Operational Training Unit, Jervis Bay, NSW
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 6 Operational Training Unit Beaufort aircraft A9-194), St Georges Basin NSW, 17 January 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Nowra War Cemetery, NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Henry Charles and Irene Gertrude Doepel; husband of Joan Nestor Doepel, of Five Dock.
Roll of Honour: Bellingen NSW
Remembered: Panel 112, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Bellingen War Memorial, Bellingen NSW
Flight Sergeant Doepel was a QANTAS staff members serving with the RAAF.
On 17 January 1944, Bristol Beaufort A9-194 crashed at St George’s Basin, near Nowra NSW, killing all on board. The aircraft was making a landing approach when banked into a steep turn, its nose dropped, following which power was applied, but the aircraft dived and exploded on impact.
The crew members of A9-194 were:
Flight Sergeant Frank Harold Appledore (416480) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Frederick Francis Doepel (412925) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Lloyd George Freeman (408647) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Francis Cokayne Frith (427082) (Observer)
Flying Officer Douglas William Thomas (285135) (Observer Instructor)
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, 247
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990