LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Lloyd George JONES
Service No: 425645
Born: Kureen QLD, 3 December 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 April942
Unit: No. 4 Communication Unit, Archerfield QLD
Died: Aircraft Accident (Australian National Airways operated C49A aircraft registration VH-CDC (Serial No. 41-7690)), Tacloban, Philippines, 13 November 1945, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Sai Wan War Cemetery, Hong Kong
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arnold William and Edith Emily Jones, of Tully, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Tully QLD
Remembered: Panel 111, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
The second fatal accident (1) occurred after the end of the war on 13 November 1945, at Tacloban, Leyte Island, in the Philippines. The aircraft, a Douglas C49A (VH-CDC), piloted by Captain H. Rawson, with RAAF crew, co-pilot Chris Good and wireless operator L.G. Jones, was totally destroyed and all on board, excepting one passenger, lost their lives. These accidents emphasise the dangers facing the courier service pilots during their three years of maintaining communications between Allied headquarters and the troops in the front line. ANA pilots flew many thousands of hours and millions of miles on courier flights, and, although they were military flights in military aircraft, it was very much an ANA operation.
(1) The first fatal ANA military charter courier services accident was the loss of Douglas DC3 registration VH-CXD at Higgins Field, Queensland, on 5 May 1945 (Flight Sergeant Neville Tasman Browne (436542)).
Extract from Yule, P. (Dr. Peter) The Forgotten Giant of Australian Aviation: Australian National Airways, Hyland House, Flemington Victoria, 2001 – Page 143
Three crew members and twelve passengers were killed. The three crew members were:
Warrant Officer Christopher Marshall Good (417476) (Co-Pilot)
Warrant Officer Lloyd George Jones (425645) (Navigator Radio Operator)
Warrant Officer Haydn Selby Rawson (300549) (Australian National Airways) (Pilot)
One passenger, Lieutenant McCabe (USAAF) survived and another Australian among the passengers, Able Seaman Thomas Jenkins (Australian Merchant Navy) was killed.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
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, 166/21/401
Parnell, N. M. (Neville M.) Flypast: a record of Aviation in Australia, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1988 – Page 201
Bibliography:
Yule, P. (Dr. Peter) The Forgotten Giant of Australian Aviation: Australian National Airways, Hyland House, Flemington Victoria, 2001