LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Mervyn Charles PARTRIDGE
Service No: 426235
Born: Mount Morgan QLD, 9 October 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 May 1942
Unit: No. 151 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Predannack, Cornwall
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 151 Squadron Mosquito aircraft NT473), near Predannack, 8 June 1945, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Bath (Haycombe) Cemetery, Somerset
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edgar and Florence Bedford, of Yeerongapilly, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Mosquito NT473 was returning to Predannack on the starboard engine only and while making an approach to land hit the ground and crashed at 0010 hours on the 8 June 1945 at Trenoon Farm, Cornwall, some 2 miles north east of the Predannack airfield and both the crew members were killed.
The crew members of NT473 were:
Flight Lieutenant Mervyn Charles Partridge (426235) (Navigator/Radio)
Flight Lieutenant Harry Turner MID (410757) (Pilot)
A later report on the flying accident stated “the port engine failed while carrying out a Ground Controlled Intercept (GCI) exercise at approximately 9,500 feet. The Pilot feathered the airscrew and was returning to base on one engine. It appears from reports that the Pilot mistook the light of Falmouth from home and the aircraft lost height getting so low that he could not see base. Verey cartridges were fired from the Aerodrome Control Point hut but the aircraft crashed on approaching the funnels.”
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, 166/32/799