LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Lionel Ernest James PARKES
Service No: 413323
Born: Wagga Wagga NSW, 25 October 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 August 1941
Unit: No. 7 Squadron, Townsville QLD
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 7 Squadron Beaufort aircraft A9-377), Higgins Field QLD, 2 July 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Townsville War Cemetery, QLD
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ernest Stanmore Parkes and Anorah Marcella Parkes, of Armidale, New South Wales.
Roll of Honour: Armidale NSW
Remembered: Panel 99, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Armidale-Dumaresq Council War Memorial Library, Armidale NSW
On 2 July 1944 Beaufort A9-377 took off from Higgins Field on a travel flight. The aircraft crashed just after take-off about 2 miles east of the north-west end of the runway, and all the crew members were killed. The aircraft dived into the ground at a sharp angle from about 300 feet having completed a normal turn downwind after take-off. The engine revs were heard to increase considerably just before the crash. There was a low ceiling with light rain falling at the time.
The crew members of A9-377 were:
Pilot Officer John William Bracken MID (423608) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Thomas Albert Charles Daymond (429762) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Andrew Frank (427618) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Pilot Officer Lionel Ernest James Parkes (413323) (Wireless Air Gunner)
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 A9845, 254
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990