LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Edwin William FLEMING
Service No: 432634
Born: Herberton QLD, 3 January 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 4 January 1943 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 5 Service Flying Training School, Uranquinty NSW
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 5 Service Flying Training School Wirraway aircraft A20-583), near Mangoplay NSW, 24 March 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Wagga Wagga War Cemetery, NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edwin Leslie and Beatrice Rose Fleming, of Babinda, North Queensland
Roll of Honour: Canberra ACT
Remembered: Panel 115, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 24 March 1944, Wirraway A20-583 was carrying out Instrument Flying practice when the engine seized at 4,000 feet. In an attempted forced landing, the aircraft overshot the field, struck a telephone post and overturned, three miles east of Mangoplay, New South Wales, near the main Holbrook road and Sergeant Fleming was killed.
The crew members of A20-583 were:
Sergeant Edwin William Fleming (432634) (Instructor Pilot)
Leading Aircraftman John Mevane Nesbitt (433616) (Trainee Pilot) Uninjured, Discharged from the RAAF: 13 March 1946
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, 166/13/207; A9845, 197