LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Owen Gilbert KEATS
Service No: 410899
Born: Brisbane QLD, 3 February 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 27 March1942 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 7 Squadron, Higgins Field QLD
Died: Aircraft Accident: (No. 7 Squadron Beaufort aircraft A9-220), Arafura Sea, 13 June 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Gilbert Keats and Martha Keats, of Mount Gambier. South Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 6, Sydney Memorial, Rookwood NSW
Remembered: Panel 99, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 13 June 1944, Beaufort A9-220 went missing on an anti-submarine patrol from Higgins Field QLD over the Arafura Sea. The aircraft is reported to have crashed at 1400 hours at position 1108S 13814E. HMAS Inverell was in the vicinity, reported the crash and conducted an unsuccessful search. The crew members of A9-220 were:
Flying Officer Raymond Arnold (429006) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer William Ross Blain (432648) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Frederick Cobden Davies (424386) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Owen Gilbert Keats (410899) (Pilot)
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 A9845, 248