LEST WE FORGET

Flying Officer Keith HINDMARSH

Service No: 405735
Born: Charters Towers QLD, 12 August 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 May 1941
Unit: No. 4 Squadron Detachment Gusap
Died: Air Operations: (No. 4 Squadron Boomerang aircraft A46-148), PNG, 26 April 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Lae War Cemetery PNG
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Nesbit Hindmarsh and Nora Agnes Hindmarsh, of Kilcoy, Queensland
Roll of Honour: Kilcoy QLD
Remembered: Panel 98, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

On 26 April 1944, Boomerangs A46-119 and A46-148 were detailed to carry out a tactical reconnaissance of the Alexishafen area in New Guinea. The aircraft took off from the Gusap strip at 0900 hours, but it failed to return from the mission. Later the wrecks of both aircraft and the remains of both pilots were found on the slopes of Mt Sinouaat in the Finisterre Ranges at about 9,000 feet. Local residents said that two aircraft flew towards the mountain which was cloud covered at the time and one turned right and the other turned left. Both entered cloud and crashed and it is possible that the aircraft collided.

The pilots killed were:

Flying Officer Keith Hindmarsh (405735) (Pilot A46-148)
Flying Officer Lindsay Alfred James Dann (401918) (Pilot A46-119)

References:

Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/17/564

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