LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer John Robert SPALDING
Service No: 404516
Born: Toowoomba QLD, 29 September 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 13 September 1940
Unit: No. 60 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Injuries from an Aircraft Accident, Civil Tiger Moth aircraft, Lahore, Pakistan, 26 April 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Karachi War Cemetery, Pakistan
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John and Florence Spalding, of Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia; husband of Valda Lillian Spalding, of Toowoomba, Queensland
Roll of Honour: Toowoomba QLD
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 25 April 1942 Flying Officer Spalding hired a civil Tiger Moth from the local flying club and while flying over Lahore doing low level aerobatics, the aircraft struck a building and crashed. The passenger was thrown out of the plane and killed. Flying Officer Spalding died of his injuries shortly after on 26 April 1942. The passenger’s details are not available.
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, 163/57/182