LEST WE FORGET

Flying Officer Robert Castle O’NEILL

Service No: 1567
Born: Redfern NSW, 21 March 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 September 1929
Unit: No. 99 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident: (No. 99 Squadron Liberator aircraft KG973), Bay of Bengal, 3 December 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Michael and Ida Annabelle O’Neill; husband of Ann Elizabeth O’Neill, of Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Townsville QLD
Remembered: Panel 443, Singapore Memorial, Singapore
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

Liberators EW286 and KG973 of No. 99 Squadron were part of a formation of 12 aircraft detailed for operations over Burma on 3 December 1944. The type of formation used was 3 vics of three aircraft, each vic with a fourth aircraft stepped down and on each side.

The two aircraft in question were flying in the starboard section, EW 286 and No 3 and KG 973 as No 4. At 1529 hours, position 13.32N 098.00E on a heading of 120 degrees true at 10,500 feet, the formation was forming into close formation after a sea crossing in very open formation. KG 973 was approximately 800 yards behind its leader and about 50 feet down. EW 286 was approximately 600 yards behind and about 20 feet down. EW 286 pulled up to the same height as the leader and KG 973 gradually came forward. It appeared then that EW 286 caught the slipstream of the leading aircraft forcing it down onto KG 973. The tail unit of KG973 appeared to be broken off and the starboard mainplane of EW286 bending and cracking. Both aircraft crashed almost immediately, one going down in flames and both bursting into flames on hitting the sea. No one was seen to get out.

The crew members of KG973 were:

Flight Sergeant Arthur Herbert Brameld (1643005) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant James Edward Joseph Farrow (1387116) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant John Frances Grimshaw (1590681) (RAFVR)
Flying Officer George Ernest Jones (J/85027) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Robert Castle O’Neill (1567) (Wireless Operator)
Flight Sergeant John Robert Milligan (R/74101) (RCAF)
Flying Officer Errol Philip Parcell (421009) (RNZAF)
Flight Sergeant Harry Pickup (1591967) (RAFVR)
Sergeant William James David Pugh (1398672) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Sydney Richard Smith (1397725) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Gerald Ernest Tudor (1414899) (RAFVR)

The crew members of EW286 were:

Flying Officer Stephen Dion Booth (160692) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Bernard William Corrigal (425831) (RNZAF)
Sergeant Frank Raymond Cragg (1038422) (RAFVR)
Flying Officer Norman Douglas Harrison (434087) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Mill Mann (1595543) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Patrick McNerney (1798175) (RAFVR)
Sergeant David Keith Moss-Vernon (1670858) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Gordon William Richards (576072) (RAF)
Sergeant Robert Robertson (1825400) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Reginald Ernest Shackleton Sanger (1601861) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Michael Schonberg (1564344) (RAFVR)

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, 166/31/294

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