LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Gregory Terence DUANE
Service No: 425622
Born: Miles QLD, 11 September 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 April 1942
Unit: No. 1657 Conversion Unit (RAF), RAF Stradishall, Suffolk
Died: Injuries from an Aircraft Accident (No. 1657 Conversion Unit Stirling aircraft R9249), Herefordshire, 23 October 1943, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Oxford (Botley) Cemetery, Oxfordshire
CWGC Additional Information: None Provided
Roll of Honour: Goondiwindi QLD
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 22 October 1943, Stirling R 9249 took off from RAF Stradishall, detailed to carry out a special navigation exercise. The aircraft crashed at 2054 hours while attempting to land on three engines at Chipping Warden. Weather conditions in the area were poor, and it was thought that the crew mistook the airfield’s perimeter track for the runway. In its final seconds of the flight, the aircraft hit a tree and the roofs of two houses in the nearby village of Aston le Walls before finishing up on the north side of the aerodrome. Four of the crew were killed in the crash and three were injured.
The crew members of R9249 were:
Sergeant Sidney Frederick Cowcher (1863808) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Gregory Terence Duane (425622) (Air Gunner) Injured, Died 23 October 1942
Sergeant R A Gausden (1337270) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) Injured
Warrant Officer George Albert Harris (404606) (Pilot)
Sergeant Geoffrey Percival McCallum (423167) (Air Gunner) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 24 April 1945
Flight Sergeant Karl Riep (R/140266) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer James William Whitehouse (138340) (RAF) (Navigator)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/10/131