LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Eric Anthony RICHARDSON
Service No: 411831
Born: Sydney NSW, 3 February 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 May 1941
Unit: No. 45 Group (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 45 Group Mitchell aircraft FW159), North Atlantic Ocean, 6 December 1943, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter Henry and Vera Richardson; husband of Marie Estelle Richardson, of Montreal, Province of Quebec
Roll of Honour: Killara NSW
Remembered: Panel 3, Column 1, Ottawa Memorial, Ontario, Canada
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Ku-ring-gai World War 2 Book of Remembrance, Gordon NSW
Brother of Pilot Officer Roy Joseph Richardson (421081)
At 0607Z hours on 6 December 1943 Mitchell FW159 took off from Goose Bay, Labrador, for Reykjavik, Iceland. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to arrive at its destination. An air sea search was instituted but no trace of the missing aircraft or crew were found. In 1949 it was recorded that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of FW159 were:
Pilot Officer Robert Donnisthorpe Darling (154047) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer William Frederick Forster (J/37546) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Flying Officer Eric Anthony Richardson (411831) (Radio Operator)
Mr Harold Nigel Egerton Salmon (Pilot) British Civilian
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, 166/35/191
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Christie, C.A. (Carl Andrew) Ocean Bridge: The History of RAF Ferry Command, University of Toronto Press Toronto Canada, 1995