LEST WE FORGET
Leading Aircraftman Donald Charles McKENZIE
Service No: 36216
Born: Prospect SA, 30 November 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 April 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 2 Bombing and Gunnery School (RCAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 2 Bombing and Gunnery School Bolingbroke aircraft), Saskatchewan, 13 March 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Mossbank Cemetery, Saskatchewan, Canada
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles James McKenzie and Blanche May McKenzie, of Nailsworth, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Adelaide SA
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 13 March 1944, a Bolingbroke aircraft on a routine gunnery exercise crashed at about 1030 hours and all on board were killed. The Duty Pilot saw the aircraft spinning at approximately 1,000 feet and it spun all the way down hitting the ground 2 miles south west of the airfield.
The crew members were:
Pilot Officer Victor Herman Inderbitzin (J/43229) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Leading Aircraftman Donald Charles McKenzie (36216) (Trainee Air Gunner)
Leading Aircraftman Keith Robert McPherson (430391) (Trainee Air Gunner)
Sergeant Howard Murray Reed (R/181611) (RCAF) (Gunnery Instructor)
Leading Aircraftman James Edward Tierney (R/189290) (RCAF) (Trainee 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, 166/26/393