LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Philip Maurice GUNN
Service No: 421488
Born: Cape Town, South Africa, 9 April 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 February 1942 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 194 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 194 Squadron Dakota aircraft KN202), Myanmar, 3 May 1945, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alexander Barnett Gunn and Maude Alice Gunn; husband of Wilma Kathleen Gunn, of Hoosier, Saskatchewan, Canada
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Column 457, Singapore Memorial, Singapore
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1455 hours on 3 May 1945 Dakota KN202 was scheduled to take-off from base after being briefed to land supplies at Payagi, Burma. The aircraft and crew were last seen by the Duty Operations Officer at the time the aircraft took off. From then nothing further heard from the aircraft. At 1146 hours the aircraft was reported overdue to Headquarters No. 341 Wing, and an air-sea-jungle search was organised. All aircraft returned to base with no results.
The crew members of KN202 were:
Pilot Officer Philip Maurice Gunn (421488) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Roydon Maxwell Kemp (3033533) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Thomas Kevin Francis Xavier Leavey (432007) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Robert Nisbet Pittendrigh (434575) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Colin Allan Walton (10769) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Edwin William Wright (1602119) (RAFVR) (Co-Pilot)
A 1953 report by the Far East Graves service stated: “local villagers stated that a two engine British aircraft was forced to land a few miles from Payagi in the forest area in May 1945 which was still occupied by the enemy. None of the crew were brought in or buried or taken prisoner. The villagers had no knowledge of graves near the wrecked aircraft or elsewhere. The fate of the crew could not be ascertained and the graves were unlocated after a search.”
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, 166/16/639