LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Thomas Leo LEIGHTON
Service No: 402368
Born: Dulwich Hill NSW, 6 August 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 August 1940
Unit: No. 12 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 12 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft R1071), Chipping Warden, 24 October 1941, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward Leo Joseph and Margaret Mary Leighton, of Hurlstone Park, New South Wales, Australia; husband of Mary Leighton, of Ashfield, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the night of 24 October 1941 Wellington R1071 took off from RAF Chipping Warden detailed to carry out a night cross-country training exercise. The aircraft came in to land about 2345 hours, but was at a very low altitude and while turning, steeply, towards the flare path, flew into a hangar and burst into flames. W R Chorley states that “showing total disregard for their own safety, two members of the ground staff became involved in a desperate battle to drag the injured airmen from the blazing wreckage. Without a shadow of doubt, had it not been for their courage, the crew would have stood little chance and the death toll might well have been considerable.” Sergeant Leighton was killed in the crash, six of those on board were injured and ten others escaped injury.
The crew members of R1071 were:
Sergeant G W Bibby (RAF) (Pilot) Injured
Sergeant P J Colman (1254284) (RAFVR) Injured
Sergeant B G Coulter (1257538) (RAFVR) Injured
Sergeant P Hankin (910438) (RAFVR) Injured
Sergeant Thomas Leo Leighton (402368) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant W J McFerran (RAF) Injured
Sergeant H A Robinson (RAF) Injured
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 7 Operational Training Units 1940-1947, Midland Counties Publications UK, 2002
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705: 163/137/95