LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Frank Arthur PENALUNA
Service No: 416887
Born: Prospect SA, 25 November 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 October 1941
Unit: No. 6 Squadron, Goodenough Island, PNG
Died: Air Operations (No. 6 Squadron Beaufort aircraft A9-517), New Britain, 28 March 1944, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Jewell Penaluna and Violet Ivy Penaluna; husband of Gweneth Clair Penaluna, of Glenunga, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 35, Rabaul Memorial, PNG
Remembered: Panel 99, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Flying Officer Horry Wade came in low to do some strafing and was shot down (in the vicinity of Jacquinot Bay New Britain). He carried with him Alex Nash, DFM, one of the most experienced wireless men in the squadron.
Extract from Graham, B. (Burton) and Frank Smyth, A Nation Grew Wings: The Story of the RAAF Beaufort Squadrons in New Guinea, Winterset House Publishers Melbourne VIC, 1946 – Page 105
A9-517 was engaged in low level strafing when it was last seen, and the report provided in the NAA record considers it unlikely that the aircraft was shot down as no anti-aircraft fire was observed by other aircraft engaged in the attack. This report considers it likely that the aircraft struck the sea during a low level turn in failing light.
The crew members of A9-517 were:
Sergeant Ronald Mark Fox (3470) (Photographer)
Flight Sergeant Clive Douglas Grant (417070) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer James Alexander Nash DFM (410368) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Frank Arthur Penaluna (416887) (Observer)
Flying Officer Horace Milward Wade (415201) (Pilot)
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, 260