LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Gordon Alexander PHILLIPS
Service No: 404988
Born: Maryborough QLD, 28 March 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 January 1941
Unit: No. 500 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 500 Squadron Hudson aircraft AM564), off the Algerian Coast, 26 April 1943, Aged 28 Years
Buried: El Alia Cemetery, Algeria
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred and Mary Isobel Phillips; husband of Evelyn Brock Phillips, of Kedron, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the evening of the 26 April 1943, Hudson AM564 was detailed to carry out an anti-submarine patrol over the Mediterranean in the vicinity of Cape Tenes, Algeria. During a heavy rainstorm at about 1830 hours, an explosion was observed from the shore to take place in the aircraft, following which the aircraft crashed in the sea, eight miles north of Cape Tenes. All the crew members were killed in the crash.
The crew members of AM564 were:
Flight Sergeant Eric Alan Mervyn Deignan (404480) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Donald Sydney Lister (411634) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Gordon Alexander Phillips (404988) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Frederick Swift (1029852) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
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, 166/32/91