LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Reginald Alfred SHARPLES
Service No: 419226
Born: North Fitzroy VIC, 22 July 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 July 1942
Unit: No. 32 Squadron, Camden NSW
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 32 Squadron Beaufort aircraft A9-350), Saddleback Mountain NSW, 18 November 1943, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Camden War Cemetery NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Bertie and Louisa Elizabeth Sharples, of West Preston, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Preston VIC
Remembered: Panel 103, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
During a night cross-country flight on 18 November 1943, Beaufort A9-350 crashed on Saddleback Mountain, near Kiama NSW, and all five RAAF members on board were killed.
On board A9-350 were:
Flight Sergeant Ronald Cecil Christie (410630) (Pilot)
Sergeant Francis Nelson Fanning (419465) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Douglas Reginald James (418721) (Navigator)
Sergeant Reginald Alfred Sharples (419226) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Harry Sydney James Terrill (419426) (Navigator, Supernumerary)
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, 254
Bibliography:
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990