LEST WE FORGET

Sergeant Donald Arthur EMERY

Service No: 416080
Born: Adelaide SA, 22 July 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 March 1941
Unit: No. 2 Squadron, Darwin NT
Died: Air Operations (No. 2 Squadron Hudson aircraft A16-171), Aroe Island, 7 May 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Whitman Emery and Anne Dunbar Emery, of Kensington Gardens, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Column 9, Ambon Memorial, Indonesia
Remembered: Panel 98, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide

On 7 May 1943, Hudson A17-171 was one of five aircraft detailed to carry out an armed reconnaissance of Maikoor and Taberfane in the Aroe Islands. When the aircraft arrived over Maikoor they formed echelon starboard in order to carry out individual bombing attacks. This manoeuvre had just been completed when two enemy aircraft were reported in the vicinity. The Leader of the formation Flying Officer Francis Joseph Kavanagh (264906)(Discharged: 24 April 1946) immediately throttled back to enable the formation to regain their positions in a V formation. Half way through the engagement which lasted about 15 minutes, A16-171 was attacked by one of the enemy “Rufes” aircraft. The aircraft had failed to regain the formation and at the time of the attack was about 600 yards behind on the starboard side. The Rufe carried thes attack to within 25 yards of A16-171. The Hudson had c1imbed vertically, turned over on its back and from a height of about 3000 feet, and dived vertically into the ground and it blew up when it hit the ground. The aircraft crashed in a mangrove swamp near the village of Djoerken in the Maikoor River district in the Aroe Islands and all the crew members were killed.

The crew members of A16-171 were:

Sergeant Donald Arthur Emery (416080) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Duncan Richard Hicks (405161) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Warrant Officer Vivian Lugton Jackman (400715) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Ian William MacKenzie (404782) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Edward Quinn (403203) (Wireless Air Gunner)

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 A705, 166/12/17

Bibliography:

Wilson, S. (Stewart) Anson, Hudson and Sunderland in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1992

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