LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Frank Stanton SPOONER
Service No: 402682
Born: Sydney NSW, 21 August 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 September 1940
Unit: No. 8 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 8 Squadron Beaufort aircraft A9-256), New Britain area PNG, 23 September 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter George and Alice Maude Spooner, of Beecroft, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 34, Rabaul Memorial, PNG
Remembered: Panel 99, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Beecroft War Memorial Cenotaph, Beecroft NSW
A9-256 took off from Vivigani airfield at 0220 hours on 23 September 1943 to attack an airfield on Hoskins Peninsula, New Britain. The aircraft was last seen over the target area at about 0400 hours.
The crew members of A9-256 were:
Flight Sergeant Eric William Braid (414124) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Norman Cummings Fletcher (405475) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Keith Harold Gardiner (405476) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Frank Stanton Spooner (402682) (Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 249
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Ilbery, P.L.T. (Peter Leslie Thomas) (422957) Hatching an Air Force: 2SFTS, 5SFTS, 1BFTS Uranquinty and Wagga Wagga, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 2002