LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Alan James PRYDE
Service No: 436583
Born: Griffith NSW, 18 November 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 13 February 1943 (at Perth WA)
Unit: No. 1674 Heavy Conversion Unit (RAF), RAF Aldergrove, County Antrim
Died: Aircraft Accident (Liberator aircraft KG896), Belfast, Northern Ireland, 19 March 1945, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Eglantine Church of Ireland Cemetery, County Down, Northern Ireland
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harry Ewart Gladstone Pryde and Margaret Mary Pryde, of Oatlands, Tasmania, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Molong NSW
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Remembered: Griffith Cenotaph, Griffith NSW
On the 19th March 1945, Liberator KG896 took off from RAF Aldergrove detailed to carry out a low altitude radar exercise on a moving target on Lough Neagh. There were several radio contacts during the flight conveying the appearance that everything was in order. The last contact was at 0218 hours. Two minutes later the aircraft flew into high ground, six miles west of Belfast, at Yornagrough, 900 feet above sea level, while on a course to the airfield, and all on board were killed. All of the crew members were yet to graduate from the Liberator conversion course.
The crew members of KG896 were:
Pilot Officer Richard Henry Appleyard (J/42507) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant Oliver Aston (1880856) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Dennis Archibald Bates (1868033) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flying Officer William David Cheyne (157352) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Sergeant Ronald James Edge (1895861) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer William Ivan Holmes (416205) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Rolinson Sidney Palliser Hook (1603654) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant Patrick McNeilly (1522944) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Flying Officer Alan James Pryde (436583) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer Stanley Frederick Bright Sargent (165074) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/33/330
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Jay, Alwyn, Endurance; Coastal Command Liberator Operations 1941-5, Banner Books, Maryborough QLD, 4650, 1996