LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Sydney Larner PORTER
Service No: 412681
Born: Annandale NSW, 13 July 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 July 1941
Unit: No. 23 Squadron
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 23 Squadron Vengeance aircraft A27-277), off Horn Island QLD, 4 May 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Townsville War Cemetery, Queensland
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Carl Harwood Porter and Clara Porter; husband of Norma Porter, of Harbord, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Newport NSW
Remembered: Panel 101, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Manly ANZAC War Memorial, Manly NSW
During an anti-aircraft cooperation flight on the 4 May 1944, Vultee Vengeance A27-277 crashed about 200 yards off Horn Island in the Torres Strait. The engine of the aircraft failed at 3,000 feet and the Pilot endeavoured to make a forced landing on the beach but failed. The aircraft stalled at 300 feet and plunged into the sea and remained submerged apart from a small portion of the tail. Both the crew members were killed.
The crew members of A27-277 were:
Warrant Officer Henry James Addison (413936) (Navigator Wireless)
Flying Officer Sydney Larner Porter (412681) (Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/33/160; A9845, 223
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line