LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Douglas Alexander McKECHNIE
Service No: 400328
Born: St Arnaud VIC, 10 November 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 August 1940
Unit: No. 27 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Lichfield, Staffordshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 27 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft X3637), Essex, 6 November 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leonard George and Amy Davina Ballantyne McKechnie, of Glen Iris, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Malvern VIC
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the 6th November 1943, Wellington X3637 took off from RAF Lichfield at 1940 hours, detailed to carry out an evening navigation detail. At approximately 2000 hours, while flying just below the base of a cumulonimbus cloud, the aircraft hit Stirling R 9192 of No. 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit. Out of control the Wellington crashed at Raden Stock Farm, Little Walden some two miles from Saffron Walden, Essex. All the crew on X3637 were killed, while the Stirling aircraft although damaged managed to return to its base.
The crew members of X3637 were:
Sergeant Noel Charles Hanson (429318) (Air Gunner Under Instruction)
Flight Sergeant James Joseph Herbert (428007) (Wireless Air Gunner Under Instruction)
Pilot Officer Trevor Tudor Jones (406621) (Screened Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Sylvester Steward Lyndhurst La Frentz (426353) (Air Bomber Under Instruction)
Flying Officer Douglas Alexander McKechnie (400328) (Screened Pilot)
Pilot Officer Malcolm Eric McKiggan (407530) (Screened Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Frederick Gordon Neville (420842) (Pilot Under Instruction)
Flying Officer Oswald Ian Hamilton Stoeckel (417529) (Navigator Under Instruction)
No. 27 Operational Training Unit lost Wellington LN295 (Sergeant Alexander Henry Anderson (427788) (Air Gunner)) on 6 November 1943.
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, 166/26/282