LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Arthur Malcolm PALMER
Service No: 420995
Born: Lithgow NSW, 2 June 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 December 1941
Unit: No. 1657 Conversion Unit (RAF), Detachment RAF Station Shepherds Grove, Suffolk
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1657 Conversion Unit Stirling aircraft EF252), Shepherd’s Grove, 26 July 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur and Florence Louisa Palmer, of Kirribilli, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Lithgow NSW
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2245 hours on 26 July 1944, Stirling EF252 took off from RAF Station Shepherds Grove, Suffolk, but the starboard outer cut just as the take-off run started. Before the Pilot could correct the situation, the aircraft swung to starboard, crashed into the Watch Office, and caught fire. Four of the crew members were killed, one died of his injuries and two were injured.
The crew members of EF252 were:
Sergeant Kenneth James Abraham (1850013) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant F Barber (2206147) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) Injured
Sergeant Frank Bowers (1581065) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant P L Capon (1225277) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner) Injured
Sergeant Samuel Thomas Collis (1671079) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) Fatally injured, Died: 27 July 1944
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Arthur Malcolm Palmer (420995) (Pilot)
Sergeant Douglas James Whiffin (1800084) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/32/448