LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Arthur Willmott ROBINSON
Service No: 429018
Born: Chatswood NSW, 18 March 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 October 1942
Unit: No. 354 Squadron (RAF), Salbani, India
Died: Air Operations: (No. 354 Squadron Liberator aircraft EV942), Indian Ocean, 30 December 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter McQuade Robinson and Grace Eunice Robinson, of Mangrove Mountain, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Gosford NSW
Remembered: Column 444, Singapore Memorial, Singapore
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Gosford Cenotaph, Gosford NSW
Liberator EV942 of No. 354 Squadron took off on 30 December 1944 on an anti U Boat patrol in the Indian area. It was last plotted off the south east coast of Ceylon in position 06.59N 082.12E when the aircraft was flying over the sea. The aircraft failed to return to base from the mission. Following post war enquiries and searches it was recorded in 1946 that the missing crew had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of EV942 were:
Flight Sergeant Lance Cain (15279) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Malcolm James Gordon (434942) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flying Officer William Alexander Manyluk (J/22965) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Peter Joseph Maika (C/13078) (RCAF) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Robert William McCulloch (417587) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Arthur Willmott Robinson (429018) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Sutcliffe (980740) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant James Kenneth Welburn (578570) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
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, 166/36/430
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Banks, A. (Arthur) Wings of the Dawning: The battle for the Indian Ocean 1939-45, Images Publishing (Malvern) UK, 1996