LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Albert Fletcher MANNING
Service No: 415038
Born: Cottesloe, 8 November 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 June 1941
Unit: No. 1 Operational Training Unit, Bairnsdale VIC
Died: Aircraft Accident, (No. 1 Operational Training Unit Hudson aircraft A16-18) Bass Strait, 11 October 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Albert William and Clare Sophia Manning; husband of Georgina Josephine Manning, of Bellevue, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 6, Sydney Memorial, Rookwood NSW
Remembered: Panel 112, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
On Sunday 11th October 1942 the Daily Flying Programme of No. 1 Hudson Training Squadron of No. 1 OTU entailed a series of DR (“Dead” (deduced) Reckoning) exercises for No. 3 Course, to be undertaken by nine crews. These exercises would take the aircraft over Bass Strait and for that reason, dinghies, rations, water and pyrotechnics were carried and parachutes and Mae Wests ordered to be worn. A16-18 and crew were listed for two flights, one in the morning, the other in the afternoon, but from this latter flight – a photographic reconnaissance of East Sister Island and return using navigation aids – the crew of four captained by Pilot Officer E. R. Deacon did not return. Repeated efforts late that afternoon to contact the crew after they had not reported their estimated time of arrival failed. Searches carried out at first light the following day, similarly, were without success.
Extract from Vincent, D. (David) The RAAF Hudson Story Book 1, D. Vincent Highbury SA 5089, 1989 – Page 309
The crew members of A16-18 were:
Sergeant William Anderson (405389) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Cecil Humphrey Andrews (405340) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Edward Raymond Deacon (408978) (Pilot)
Sergeant Albert Fletcher Manning (415038) (Navigator)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9834, 134
Bibliography:
Lax, M. (Mark) (editor) Always Ready: a history of RAAF East Sale, RAAF Publications Unit Melbourne VIC, 1993
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Anson, Hudson and Sunderland in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1992