LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Eldred QUINN
Service No: 417413
Born: Gumeracha SA, 17 September 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 April 1942
Unit: No. 80 Squadron, Tarakan
Died: Air Operations (No. 80 Squadron Kittyhawk aircraft A29-116), Borneo, 9 August 1945, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Labuan War Cemetery, Malaysia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Albert John and Evelyn Kate Quinn, of Forreston, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Gumeracha SA
Remembered: Panel 104, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
On 9 August 1945, Pilot Officer Quinn in Kittyhawk A29-116 was one of four aircraft in Blue Section tasked to bomb and strafe enemy positions at 00.33S 117.16 E. On his strafing run, his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and belly-landed and skidded into an oil-pumping plant and exploded.
The members of Blue Section were:
Flight Lieutenant John Distin Hill (407792) Discharged: 6 November 1945
Flight Sergeant (later Warrant Officer) Garth McVey (435117) Discharged: 19 February 1946
Flight Sergeant (later Warrant Officer) Jack William Pearson (125688) Discharged: 9 August 1946
Pilot Officer Eldred Quinn (417413)
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, 171
Bibliography:
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Spitfire, Mustang and Kittyhawk in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1988