LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Bruce Allan DUCKWORTH
Service No: 409394
Born: Camberwell VIC, 25 March 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 1 Air Observers School
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1 Air Observers School Anson aircraft AW485), near MacLean NSW, 7 March 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Evans Head War Cemetery, NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Allen H. Duckworth and Ruby Duckworth, of Ararat, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 115, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
During a navigation training exercise on 7 March 1944, Anson AW485 crashed at 1445 hours 20 miles south of Evans Head near MacLean and all the crew members were killed. It was considered that the probable cause of the accident was loss of control in cloud, causing the aircraft to disintegrate in the air.
The crew members of AW485 were:
Flight Sergeant Bruce Allan Duckworth (409394) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Leading Aircraftman Robert Thomas Robertson (439616) (Trainee Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Leading Aircraftman Patrick John Scanlan (435197) (Trainee Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Leading Aircraftman Neville Thomas Self (433627) (Trainee Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer Billie Strike-McClelland (412748) (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, 166/10/195