LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Francis Keith MAIDEN
Service No: 423799
Born: Cooma NSW, 27 September 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1942
Unit: No. 32 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 32 Operational Training Unit Hampden aircraft AN101), off Stuart Island, British Columbia, 9 October 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Victoria (Royal Oak) Burial Park, Patricia Bay, British Columbia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Scrimes Maiden and Ellen Mary Maiden, of Cranebrook, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Penrith NSW
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Penrith City Memory Park, Penrith NSW
On 9 October 1943, the crew of Hampden AN101 were detailed to carry out a practice torpedo attack, and the aircraft was seen to crash into the sea off the Turn Pont Light north east of Stuart Island, from witnesses on the the Canadian Pacific Railways Steamship Princess Alice.
The crew members of AN101 were:
Sergeant Francis Keith Maiden (423799) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Kenneth Shaw (152316) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Allen Leonard Warner (151705) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Neville Oswald Weekes (413700) (Wireless 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, 166/27/248
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line