LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Alan Kenneth FARLAM
Service No: 402233
Born: Basingstoke, England, 25 June 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 July 1940 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 19 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Air Operations (No. 19 Operational Training Unit Anson aircraft N9671), Angus, 14 August 1943, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Cheam (St Dunstan) Churchyard, Sutton and Cheam, Surrey
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Robert and Rose Elizabeth Farlam; husband of Marion Farlam, of Neutral Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Cheam, England
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 14 August 1943, Anson N9671 was detailed to carry out a non-operational day navigational training exercise. At 1505 hours the aircraft crashed one mile east of Arbroath airfield, Angus, and all the crew members were killed. Anson N9671 took off in the early afternoon, and shortly after take-off a radio signal was received indicating all was well. From time to time further contact was made, but at 1515 hours a message was received from RAF Kinloss, Scotland, that the aircraft had crashed 10 miles east of Arbroath airfield in Scotland, and all on board had been killed.
The crew members of N9671 were:
Sergeant Kenneth Ashmore (1578202) (RAFVR) (Student Wireless Operator)
Sergeant Ronald Brown (1285031) (RAFVR) (Instructor Wireless Operator)
Warrant Officer Alan Kenneth Farlam (402233) (Pilot)
Sergeant Edward Stephen Andre Gray (1454671) (RAFVR) (Student Navigator)
Flying Officer Herbert Harry Kirby DFC (127173) (RAFVR) (Instructor Navigator)
Sergeant Frederick James Pellatt (1800826) (RAFVR) (Student Air Bomber)
The following are extracts from Court of Inquiry into the accident: “The aircraft started breaking up before it hit the ground and parts of the main plane and tailplane were picked up a quarter to half a mile away from the wrecked aircraft which struck the ground in an almost vertical dive. The engines were found 5 to 6 feet below the ground and the aircraft had exploded on impact.”.
The Court of Inquiry concluded that “It appears that the aircraft had been flying on a southerly course between 3-4,000 feet and was first noticed over the village of Marywell, and was then seen to go into a diving turn to port. In the dive parts of the aircraft were seen to be breaking away, and the aircraft struck the ground in a vertical dive and exploded on impact. No evidence was submitted to show the cause of the aircraft going into a diving turn to port from which it never recovered.”
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, 166/13/101