LEST WE FORGET

Pilot Officer Stanley Joseph JAMES

Service No: 416966
Born: Cheltenham SA, 9 May 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941
Unit: No. 34 Operational Training Unit (RCAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 34 Operational Training Unit Ventura aircraft AE665), Gulf of St Lawrence, Canada, 26 January 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Henry and Ethel Jane James, of Seaton Park, South Australia. A.A.I.S.
Roll of Honour: Woodville SA
Remembered: Panel 3, Column 1, Ottawa Memorial, Ontario, Canada
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide

Ventura AE665 of No. 34 Operational Training Unit took off at 1300 hours on 26 January 1943 from Pennfield Ridge on a non-operational cross country navigation exercise. The route was Base / Bathurst / Point Escuminac / St John / Base. The aircraft did not return to base. The exact place of the accident is unknown, but believed to be off Point Escuminac, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada. It was concluded that the aircraft and crew members were lost at sea.

The crew members of AE665 were:

Pilot Officer Donald Shaw Cormack (414470) (Pilot)
Sergeant Thomas Matthew Hunter (42329) (RNZAF) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Stanley Joseph James (416966) (Navigator)

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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/20/8

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