LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Ronald Stuart HORWOOD
Service No: 409120
Born: Mount Clear VIC, 19 April 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 July 1941
Unit: No. 1675 Conversion Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1675 Conversion Unit Liberator aircraft 6EW), Egypt, 25 June 1945, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Moascar War Cemetery, Egypt
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles and Lizzie Belle Horwood, of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Ballarat VIC
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 25 June 1945, Liberator 6EW took off from RAF Abu Sueir detailed to demonstrate a dual cross country formation flight of three hours duration. When in the vicinity of Gaza, Flying Officer Horwood informed the pilots of the other two aircraft by radio that he had trouble with one engine, and he was returning to Abu Sueir. He called Abu Sueir and asked for weather conditions and they were given. The cloud base was 4/500 feet. Shortly after, the aircraft, flying on three engines, was seen to come through the cloud and fly across the aerodrome, to then climb into cloud again. At about 0900 hours a report was received to say that the aircraft had crashed in the desert, and all the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of 6EW were:
Sergeant Andrew Hubert Henry Clarke (3000719) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Victor James Cooper (1871636) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant William Adderley Fowler (1623849) (RAFVR) (Pilot under instruction)
Flying Officer Ronald Stuart Horwood (409120) (Instructor Pilot)
Pilot Officer Leslie Septimus Morley (193019) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Frank Sidney Smith (1803534) (RAFVR) (Pilot under instruction)
Sergeant Bernard Joseph Sudlow (2205636) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant Derrick Bernard Tuck (3000563) (RAFVR) (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, 166/18/766
Bibliography:
Winter, V.A. (Vincent Adams) (408547) Noble Six Hundred: the story of the Empire Air Training Scheme with special reference to Australians who trained in Southern Rhodesia, V.A. Winter Brighton VIC 3186, 1982