LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Robert St Clair GOWDIE
Service No: 404712
Born: Mount Morgan QLD, 17 June 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1940
Unit: No. 40 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 40 Squadron Wellington aircraft DV663), off North Africa, 7 August 1942, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John St. Clair Gowdie and Amy Elizabeth Gowdie; husband of Mary Gowdie, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Dip. Agriculture
Roll of Honour: Rockhampton QLD
Remembered: Column 266, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1945 hours on 7 August 1942 Wellington DV663 took off to attack shipping in Tobruk Harbour. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of DV663 were:
Sergeant Robert St Clair Gowdie (404712) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Edward Kelly Hainey (655427) (RAF) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Leonard Percival Kerr (411412) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Frank Raymond Smith (403537) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Ivan Thomson (404968) (RNZAF) (Observer)
Sergeant Douglas Wolstenholme (R/78607) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
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, 163/118/412