LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Francis William GROSVENOR
Service No: 403472
Born: Marrickville NSW, 8 May 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 January 1941
Unit: No. 3 Aircraft Depot, RAAF Station Amberley QLD
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 3 Aircraft Depot aircraft C3-543*), near Amberley, 11 August 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Ipswich General Cemetery QLD
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Cowley and Jeannie Metcalfe Grosvenor, of Manly, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Manly NSW
Remembered: Panel 113, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Manly ANZAC War Memorial, Manly NSW
On 11 August 1944, aircraft C3-543 flown by Flight Lieutenant Grosvenor took off from Amberley aerodrome at 1325 hours with the Pilot detailed to carry out a carburettor dive test on the aircraft. At 1352 hours, the Pilot made a dive from the north-west side of the aerodrome, and when at about 1,000 feet, the aircraft failed structurally when the port main plane and empennage came off, and it crashed and burst into flames killing Flight Lieutenant Grosvenor.
* The NAA record notes that the aircraft type was believed to be a Kittyhawk.
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, 166/16/402; A9845, 24
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line