LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Robert Terence Wolfenden ELCOATE
Service No: 712
Born: Echuca VIC, 21 February 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 February 1940
Unit: No. 100 Squadron
Died: Aircraft Accident: (No. 100 Squadron Beaufort aircraft A9-64), Dromana VIC, 12 July 1942, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Brighton General Cemetery VIC
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Mr. and Mrs. R. L. G. Elcoate, of Cloncurry, Queensland
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 104, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0700 hours on 12 July 1942 Beaufort A9-64 crashed at Dromana, Victoria, while proceeding to its datum on an anti-submarine patrol and all the crew members were killed. Two Beauforts were detailed to carry out the inner anti-submarine patrol ahead of Force “V”- datum 39.11S 146.23E and time on datum 2100Z/11. In the act of carrying out this patrol A9-64 (LAV 81) crashed and was destroyed at Dromana while travelling from base (Laverton). LAV 82 carried out a normal patrol and was on Datum at 0030Z/12 and no enemy sightings were made.
The crew members of A9-64 were:
Flight Sergeant James Robert Axon (405033) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Robert Terence Wolfenden Elcoate (712) (Pilot)
Sergeant Charles Martin Redgrave (405934) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Dudley Merton Wehl (404520) (Observer)
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, 163/30/65; A9845, 242