LEST WE FORGET
Squadron Leader Reginald Lloyd GORDON DFC & Bar
Service No: 485
Born: Sydney NSW, 6 July 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 January 1939 (at RAAF Station Point Cook VIC)
Unit: No. 31 Squadron
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), 26 November 1943
Awarded the Bar to the Distinguished Flying Cross (Bar), 29 February 1944
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 31 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft A19-165), near Batchelor NT, 27 February 1944, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Adelaide River War Cemetery NT
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Oswald Dressell Gordon and Muriel Gordon, of Rose Bay, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Rose Bay NSW
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
DFC Citation: “Since November 1943, Squadron Leader Gordon has carried out numerous operational sorties with his squadron in the course of which he has destroyed in combat, one Zero float plane, one medium twin engine bomber, one twin engine fighter and damaged another of the same type. He has bombed and strafed anti-aircraft positions on Selaroe, set fire to barges off Manatuto and led an attack on an enemy convoy near Cape Fatugama. He then led two strafing attacks on an enemy vessel, which was sunk, and followed with concentrating attacks on enemy machine gun positions and enemy troops on Atamboaa. Squadron Leader Gordon has displayed outstanding skill, courage and leadership together with his expert airmanship and contributed considerably to the high state of moral existing in the Squadron.” (London Gazette 26 November 1943, page 5188)
The Bar to Squadron Leader Gordon’s DFC was promulgated in London Gazette on 29 February 1944 page 1010.
At 1730 hours on 27 February 1944, Beaufighter A19-165 crashed one mile off Batchelor airstrip and the north south road and the crew of two was killed. The port engine and then the starboard engine failed during a test flight. The pilot forced landed in timber on the side of a hill with the undercarriage retracted.
The crew members of A19-165 were:
Squadron Leader Reginald Lloyd Gordon DFC and Bar (485) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Albert Smith (409803) (Navigator Wireless)
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, 166/16/288; A9845, 20
Bibliography:
Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed, Terry Hills NSW, 1980
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990