LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Archie Harold Duncan McDONALD
Service No: 420031
Born: Auburn NSW, 30 November 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1941
Unit: No. 85 Squadron, Guildford WA
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 85 Squadron Boomerang aircraft A46-22) Guildford WA, 2 October 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Karrakatta War Cemetery WA
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Elliott McDonald and Helena Victoria McDonald, of Chipping Norton, New South Wales.
Roll of Honour: Liverpool NSW
Remembered: Panel 104, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
No. 420031 Flight Sergeant McDONALD A.H.D. killed in an accident to aeroplane A46-22. Aeroplane totally destroyed by fire.
No. 85 Squadron Operations Record Book A50 Entry dated 2 October 1943
Flight Sergeant A.H.D. McDonald, died when a structural failure occurred in the tail plane of Boomerang A46-22. He was buried in the War Graves Section at Karrakatta on the 4th of October 1943. The aircraft came down close to the strip and was totally destroyed by fire. Many of the Squadron saw this accident as they were on morning parade when it happened.
Extract from Mitchell, A. (Alan) (18433) The Flying Inventor: the autobiography of an RAAF ground engineer, inventor and later pilot, Alan Mitchell, Woodlands WA, 2000 – Page 247
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
Metropolitan Cemeteries Board (Perth) On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 139
Bibliography:
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Wirraway, Boomerang and CA-15 in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1991