LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant James Ernest EASON
Service No: 412931
Born: Elsternwick VIC, 26 May 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1940 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 72 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 72 Operational Training Unit Baltimore aircraft AH128), Kenya, 29 January 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Nanyuki War Cemetery, Kenya
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ernest Valentine Eason and Emma Mary Eason, of Bellvue Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Canberra ACT
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the 29 January 1943, Baltimore AH128 took off on a solo non-operational day training flight. The aircraft crashed at 1005 hours approximately four miles west of Nanyuki, and the pilot was killed. It was the pilot’s first solo flight on the aircraft type. The aircraft appeared unable to maintain height on a circuit of the aerodrome and spun in from a height of 20 – 30 feet above partially wooded country and burst into flames. As the pilot was unable to maintain height, it pointed to both engines stopping and it was considered this may have been due to the pilot erroneously turning off the petrol supply to the engines.
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, 166/11/9