LEST WE FORGET

Flying Officer James Wilson Rook HOUSTON

Service No: 409475
Born: Warrnambool VIC, 28 June 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 September 1941
Unit: No. 5 Operational Training Unit
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 5 Operational Training Unit Beaufighter aircraft A19-125), near Tocumwal NSW, 19 June 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Tocumwal General Cemetery, NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of the Revd. Alexander Somerville Houston and Ethel Mary Houston; husband of Helen Margaret Houston, of Mulgrave, Victoria. B.A. (Melbourne)
Roll of Honour: Box Hill VIC
Remembered: Panel 112, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

On 19 June 1944, Beaufighter A19-125 crashed on the Nangunyah Air to Air Gunnery range, about 12 miles north east of Tocumwal. The aircraft was carrying out gunnery practice and struck the ground in a dive while carrying out the exercise and both crew members were killed.

The crew members of A19-125 were:

Flying Officer James Wilson Rook Houston (409475) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Edward Russell Levy (433020) (Navigator Wireless)

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, 166/18/382; A9845, 17

Bibliography:

Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed, Terry Hills NSW, 1980
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990

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