LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Vincent Gregory KANE
Service No: 36087
Born: Paddington NSW, 29 January 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 April 1941
Unit: No. 244 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 244 Squadron Wellington aircraft JA410), Arabian Sea, 31 May 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Sydney George and Clarice Alice Kane, of Bondi Junction, New South Wales. Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Column 282, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0900 hours on 31 May 1944 Wellington JA410 took off on an anti-submarine patrol in the Arabian Sea. At 1027 hours a message was received from the aircraft advising WDM 1 – one engine. At 1029 hours a distress was received giving position 18.33N 060.29E, which placed the aircraft about 150 miles east of Masirah Island. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft and it did not return to base. Extensive Air Sea Rescue searches failed to locate the missing aircraft or crew members. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of JA410 were:
Sergeant Peter Francis Fairweather (1321426) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Warrant Officer Vincent Gregory Kane (36087) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant William Henry Valentine Leach (1431947) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Arthur William Lewis (1317557) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Gerald Clive Presland (178862) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Eric Henwood Reynolds (1391975) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator 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, 166/22/259