LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Clement John STUART
Service No: 405779
Born: Toowoomba QLD, 26 April 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 May 1941
Unit: No. 15 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 15 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit Oxford aircraft V4215), Yorkshire, 5 August 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Newton-upon-Ouse (All Saints) Churchyard, Yorkshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Howard Clement Stuart and Marjorie Eileen Stuart, of Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Toowoomba QLD
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 4 August 1942, Oxford V4215, a dual control aircraft, was detailed to carry out a night cross country flight and crashed two miles west of Tholthorpe, Yorkshire, killing all three crew members. The aircraft route was Leconfield-Helmesley-Patley Bridge-Leconfield and the duration of the flight was one and a half hours. The aircraft crashed at 0250 hours on the last leg of the course. It had been in touch by wireless telegraph with the operator at Station Headquarters continuously from 0202 to 0235 when a signal was received “closing down going over to Direction Finding.” A report by an Investigating Officer into the accident stated: “in my opinion the pilot had lost his bearings and also lost control of the aircraft which flew into the ground in a vertical dive.”
The crew members of V4215 were:
Aircraftman I John Davies (1077869) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Sergeant Clement John Stuart (405779) (Pilot)
Sergeant Henry Anderton Thewles (1450879) (RAF) (Second Pilot)
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, 163/162/419