LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Alan Geoffrey SHADDICK
Service No: 436177
Born: Pingelly WA, 25 September 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 November 1942
Unit: No. 107 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Leicester East, Leicestershire
Died: Aircraft Accident (Dakota aircraft TS436), Wiltshire, 19 February 1945, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Bath (Haycombe) Cemetery, Somerset UK
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George and Ada Gertrude Shaddick, of Coolgardie, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Pingelly WA
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Remembered: Honour Avenues, Kings Park WA
On 19th February 1945, Dakota TS436 flown by Flight Lieutenant Mackay was carrying out a non-operational delivery of crews on completion of training. The aircraft was travelling from 107 Operational Training Unit, RAF Leicester East to GP OT Flight Zeals, Wiltshire, on completion of training. The aircraft crashed at 1530 hours on 19 February, 2 miles north west of Zeals. The aircraft contacted a tree on hill and this was followed by an explosion and total disintegration of the aircraft. The aircraft was seen to disappear over the boundary of the airfield. Civilians working in the vicinity had the general impression that the aircraft was flying normally with no sign of the engine faltering before the crash. After completing a circuit of the airfield the aircraft climbed to about 500 feet and disappeared into cloud, and then apparently dived into the ground. The estimated height over the airfield was 500 feet and a mile further on the height was 100 feet before the aircraft crashed. There were 20 fatalities.
On board TS436 were:
Flight Sergeant John Ogilvy Allen (435399) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Corporal Kenneth Stanley Anderson (1270728) (RAFVR)
Aircraftman Class II Walter James Colby (1883307) (RAFVR)
Flight Lieutenant Thomas Arthur Evans (148171) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Maxwell Vernon Gilder (1456151) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Donald Grant (1623481) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Gerard Jean Guay (J/47530) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator)
Flying Officer John Heywood (113221) (RAFVR)
Flying Officer James Cassels Howden (J/41266) (RCAF)
Flight Lieutenant Reed Tilton Hyde (C/14912) (RCAF)
Sergeant Ronald Edward Jelfs (1412097) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant Martin Reay Sutherland Mackay (131570) (RAFVR) (Pilot TS436) Injured
Flying Officer Frank Joseph Plant (54532) (RAF) (Navigator)
Flight Lieutenant Alan James Roberts (125612) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant James Ross (1777222) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Mervyn Esmond Llewellyn Scovell (J/28472) (RCAF)
Flight Sergeant Alan Geoffrey Shaddick (436177) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Leslie Daniel Slipper (1603126) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Aircraftman Class II Reginald Ernest Suggars (1447140) (RAFVR)
Flight Lieutenant Douglas Elliott Turnbull (136387) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Sidney Graham Williams (165187) (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, 166/37/946