LEST WE FORGET
Wing Commander Douglas Carson RIDING
Service No: 177
Born: Sydney NSW, 11 April 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 January 1937 (at RAAF Station Point Cook VIC)
Unit: No. 31 Squadron, Coomalie Creek, NT
Died: Air Operations: (No. 31 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft A19-46), South Timor, 17 November 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Horace Toolleen Riding and Mary Margaret Riding; husband of Margaret Lauder Riding, of Strathfield, New South Wales.
Roll of Honour: Coffs Harbour NSW
Remembered: Panel 6, Northern Territory Memorial, Adelaide River NT
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the 17th (November 1942) the Beaufighters were over Timor for the first time, while Hudsons from Nos. 2 and 13 bombed Maubisse, Dili, Bobonaro, and Baucau.
Extract from Gillison, D.N. (Douglas Napier) Royal Australian Air Force 1939-1942, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1962 – Page 647
The squadron’s first operation was on 17 November when three aircraft were sent to Moabissi and three to Bobonaro, on Japanese-held Timor. It was a bad start as Wing Commander Douglas Carson Riding (177) and Warrant Officer Robert Douglas Clarke AFM (1831) were lost. They were at low level being pursued by an enemy aircraft when Riding turned and the wingtip struck the water.
Extract from Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed Terry Hills NSW, 1980 – Page 38
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 A705, 166/35/402
Bibliography:
Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed, Terry Hills NSW, 1980
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990