LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Owen Lawrence LOANE
Service No: 402514
Born: Sydney NSW, 14 January 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 September 1940
Unit: No. 113 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 113 Squadron Blenheim aircraft V5963), off Akyab, Myanmar, 9 September 1942, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Kenneth Owen Archibald and Flora Gwendoline Loane, of Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Chatswood NSW
Remembered: Column 421, Singapore Memorial, Singapore
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Blenheim V5983 failed to return from a raid attacking shipping in Akyab harbour on 9 September 1942. In 1949 following investigations it was concluded that the missing crew members were lost at sea.
In a report by other crew members on the same raid, they stated “one minute after our attack on the enemy shipping in Akyab harbour on 9 September 1942, our formation was attacked by four enemy fighters in 23 minutes. At the end of this time Flying Officer Loane’s aircraft was last seen with a fighter on its tail at very close range as we entered cloud. The position then was 60 miles from Akyab on a bearing of 300 deg.
The crew members of V5983 were:
Flight Sergeant Robin Edgell Barnard (404464) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Thomas Bell (402184) (Observer)
Flying Officer Owen Lawrence Loane (402514) (Pilot)
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, 163/43/82
Bibliography:
Winter, V.A. (Vincent Adams) (408547) Noble Six Hundred: the story of the Empire Air Training Scheme with special reference to Australians who trained in Southern Rhodesia, V.A. Winter Brighton VIC 3186