LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant William James TURNBULL
Service No: 420719
Born: Chatswood NSW, 26 December 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 November 1941
Unit: No. 85 Squadron, Guildford WA
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 85 Squadron Boomerang aircraft A46-68), Guildford WA, 27 December 1943, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Karrakatta War Cemetery WA
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Robson Turnbull and Jessie Parry Turnbull, of McMahon’s Point, New South Wales.
Roll of Honour: Chatswood NSW
Remembered: Panel 104, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Boomerang Aircraft A46-68 crashed while attempting to make a forced landing. Pilot 420719 F/SGT. TURNBULL W.J. killed instantly. Squadron Leader H.B. NICHOLLS D.F.C. (406405) and Flying Officer F.J. CHALMERS (125072) appointed President and Member respectively of Court of Inquiry to investigate and report on accident to Boomerang aircraft A46-68.
No. 85 Squadron Operations Record Book A50 Entry dated 27 December 1943
Boomerang A46-68, flown by Flight Sergeant W.J. Turnbull, had an engine failure. He returned to Guildford and put his wheels down to land on the runway close to Great Eastern Highway. The aircraft tripped on a ditch and overturned. Flight Sergeant Turnbull died from a broken neck and was buried at Karrakatta War Cemetery on the 29th of December.
Extract from Mitchell, A. (Alan) The Flying Inventor: the autobiography of an RAAF ground engineer, inventor and later pilot, Alan Mitchell, Woodlands WA, 2000 – page 248
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
Metropolitan Cemeteries Board (Perth) On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 139; A705, 166/40/121
Bibliography:
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Wirraway, Boomerang and CA-15 in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1991