LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Douglas Charles MARTIN
Service No: 414812
Born: Lismore NSW, 28 May 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 November 1941 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 466 Squadron, RAF Station Leconfield, Yorkshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 466 Squadron Halifax aircraft MZ305), Kent, 14 June 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Cecil Charles and Alice Irene Martin, of Coorparoo, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 110, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Halifax MZ305 took off from Leconfield at 1314 hours on 14 June 1944 to carry out a cross country training flight. The aircraft crashed at 1443 hours approx one mile south south east of Meopham Green, 5 miles south of Gravesend, Kent. Five of the crew members were killed in
the crash, one died later, and the seventh survived the crash.
The crew members of MZ305 were:
Warrant Officer Ian Frederick Gould (410657) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Albert Harrip (418403) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant Hugh William Humphreys (1449377) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Douglas Charles Martin (414812) (Bomb Aimer)
Pilot Officer Thomas William Munro Scott (414603) (Pilot)
Sergeant J Tosh (1823287) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) Survived
Sergeant Hugh Wren (1572492) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) Fatally injured: Died 19 June 1944
An extract from a subsequent Court of Inquiry which appears on Casualty file 166/37/439 refers to the following: “Sergeant Tosh stated that no trouble was experienced in the aircraft except for unknown trouble of starboard engines at 25,000ft. The air temperature was not excessively low –38degC. If coring did occur, the pilot used the wrong procedure when he feathered the props and stopped the engines.” An opinion was also expressed (by whom is not stated) that “the aircraft stalled and the engines failed to respond immediately to the throttles because of congealed oil in the CSUs and the low oil temperature in the engines due to prolonged flying from a high altitude with the engines throttled back.”
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/27/473
Bibliography:
Ilbery, P.L.T. (Peter Leslie Thomas) (422957) Hatching an Air Force: 2SFTS, 5SFTS, 1BFTS Uranquinty and Wagga Wagga, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 2002