LEST WE FORGET
Leading Aircraftman Geoffrey Clyde HARKNESS
Service No: 433422
Born: Sydney NSW, 26 October 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 30 March 1943
Unit: No. 5 Service Flying Training School, Uranquinty NSW
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 5 Service Flying Training School Wirraway aircraft A20-493), near Uranquinty, 13 April 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Wagga Wagga War Cemetery, NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward Knox Harkness and Stella Kate Harkness; husband of Jean Rae Harkness, of Rushcutters Bay
Roll of Honour: Woollahra NSW
Remembered: Panel 116, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: William Thompson Masonic Schools World War II and Vietnam Memorial, Baulkham Hills NSE
At 0500 hours on 13April 1944, Wirraway A20-493 flown solo by Leading aircraftman Harkness crashed approximately 1.5 miles west of the Uranquinty aerodrome and he was killed. The aircraft was engaged in a night flying exercise and was making a circuit to land. It was seen to enter a small cloud above 1,000 feet, from which it emerged in a diving turn from which it did not recover and it hit the ground.
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, 166/17/531
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line