LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Robert Neill TUCKER
Service No: 438666
Born: Armadale VIC, 11 January 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 November 1943
Unit: No. 5 Operational Training Unit
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 5 Operational Training Unit Mosquito aircraft A52-29), near Newcastle NSW, 31 January 1945, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Newcastle (Sandgate) War Cemetery, NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Herbert Leopold and Winifred Eileen Tucker; husband of Norma Lesley Tucker, of Mont Albert, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 113, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: The Capt. Clarence Smith Jeffries (V.C.) and Pte. William Matthew Currey (V.C.) Memorial Wall, Sandgate NSW
At 1440 hours on 31 January 1945, Mosquito A52-29 crashed during an air to ground gunnery exercise at the gunnery Range north west of Saltash, New South Wales, and both crew members were killed. Attacks were to be carried out commencing at 1,000 feet and coming down to 100 feet at a 20 degree angle of dive. The aircraft took off at 1330 hours and on the third attack was seen by the Range control officer to be making a perfectly normal turning attack on to the target and after coming out of the turn at about 2/300 feet the aircraft was seen to crash. The crash was due to the structural failure of the port main plane.
The crew members of A52-29 were:
Pilot Officer Robert Neill Tucker (438666) (Navigator Wireless)
Flying Officer Francis John White (413454) (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 A705, 166/40/334; A945, 151
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Vincent, D. (David) Mosquito Monograph: A history of Mosquitoes in Australia and RAAF operations, David Vincent Highbury SA 5089, 1982