LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Arthur Renfred NICOLAY
Service No: 406013
Born: Bayswater WA, 22 August 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 April 1940
Unit: No. 32 Squadron, Seven Mile Strip, Port Moresby
Died: Air Operations (No. 32 Squadron Hudson aircraft A16-101), Gasmata Area, 4 March 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur and Violet Nicolay, of Victoria Park, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 32, Rabaul Memorial, PNG
Remembered: Panel 103, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Remembered: Boans Employees’ World War II Honour Roll (Honour Board held at the RAAFA Museum Bull Creek WA)
Flying Officer Nicolay (1937-8) and Sergeant Cass (1935-7) both attended Perth Modern School.
A16-101 was one of four No. 32 Squadron Hudson aircraft operating from Seven Mile airstrip, Port Moresby, tasked with a night bombing raid on Gasmata New Britain. On this operation, A16-101 and A16-165 went missing.
The crew members of A16-101 were:
Sergeant William Ian Cass (406432) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant William Hodgson Coppin (406773) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Mark Richard Korbosky (406721) (Second Pilot)
Flying Officer Arthur Renfred Nicolay (406013) (Pilot)
No. 32 Squadron lost Hudson A16-165 (Flight Lieutenant Kenneth James Erwin (261863) (Pilot)) on 3 March 1942.
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
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 165/95/233
Bibliography:
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Anson, Hudson and Sunderland in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1992