LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant John Alexander FALKINER
Service No: 400952
Born: Caulfield VIC, 6 July 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 December 1940 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 460 Squadron, RAF Station Breighton, Yorkshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 460 Squadron Conversion Flight Halifax aircraft W1272), Yorkshire, 22 September 1942, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Wootton (St Lawrence) Churchyard, Hampshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Otway Rothwell Falkiner and Una Caroline Falkiner, of Widgiewa, New South Wales, Australia. B.A. (Melbourne)
Roll of Honour: Urana NSW
Remembered: Panel 107, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Halifax W1272 of No. 460 Squadron Conversion Flight took off on the 22 September 1942 to carry out a training exercise including tank changing, 3 engine flying, cross wind landings and demonstration of rudder stall. At 1030 hours the aircraft crashed a quarter of a mile east of “Middle Farm”, Catterton, Yorkshire. All the crew members were killed and the cause of the crash could not be established.
The crew members of W1272 were:
Flight Sergeant Reginald George Cox (402589) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant John Alexander Falkiner (400952) (Pilot under Instruction)
Sergeant Leslie Horace Jones (646858) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer John William Purcivall DFC (401031) (RNZAF) (Pilot Instructor)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses Volume 8 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses Heavy Conversion Units 1939-1947, Midland Publishing Hinckley UK, 2003
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, 163/31/47
Bibliography:
Firkins, P. C. (Peter Charles) (441386) Strike and Return, Westward Ho Publishing City Beach WA, 1985