LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Neil William NEELANDS
Service No: 419070
Born: Northcote VIC, 15 June 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 June 1942
Unit: No. 194 Squadron (RAF), Akyab Main airfield, Myanmar
Died: Aircraft Accident: (No. 194 Squadron Dakota aircraft KK175), Myanmar, 20 June 1945, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Taukkyan War Cemetery, Myanmar
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Scott Neelands and Jessie Evelyn Kathleen Neelands, of Northcote, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Northcote VIC
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
A Court of Inquiry into an aircraft accident to Dakota KK175 which occurred on 20 June 1945 found that the aircraft was slightly descending through cloud, with the likelihood that a 1,250 feet high mountainous peak was obscured by cloud or rain. The aircraft crashed at Kyaukpya, and all the crew members were killed. KK175 first struck a tree, and a second tree ripped off the port main plane. The aircraft then ploughed through undergrowth and made final impact on a rocky hillside resulting in the forepart of the aircraft containing the crew being almost totally burnt out.
The crew members of KK175 were:
Wing Commander Robert Cree Crawford DFC (34146) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant Frank Malcolm Forrester (120767) (RAFVR) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer Neil William Neelands (419070) (Second Pilot)
Warrant Officer Allan Oliver Walkington (437031) (Wireless 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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/29/263