LEST WE FORGET

Pilot Officer Eric William SWEETNAM

Service No: 408077
Born: Hobart TAS, 16 May 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 June 1940
Unit: Base Torpedo Unit, Nowra NSW
Died: Aircraft Accident (Base Torpedo Unit Beaufort aircraft A9-27), Jervis Bay NSW, 14 April 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Nowra War Cemetery, NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Herbert William and Erica Sweetnam, of Sandy Bay, Tasmania
Roll of Honour: Hobart TAS
Remembered: Panel 111, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 0955 hours on 14 April 1943, Beaufort aircraft A9-27 and A9-268 collided over Jervis Bay. All eight crew members from both aircraft were killed.

The crew members of A9-27 were:

Flight Sergeant Albert John Bailey (409976) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Raymond Sydney Green (408110) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Maurice Francis Hoban (409118) (Observer)
Pilot Officer Eric William Sweetnam (408077) (Wireless Air Gunner)

The crew members of A9-268 were:

Flight Lieutenant David George Dey (280627) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Jack Norman (407561) (Wireless Air Gunner acting Observer)
Sergeant Hugh Sydney George Richardson (410093) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Rex Lindsay Solomon (408149) (Wireless Air Gunner)

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, 176

Bibliography:

Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990

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