LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Josiah TURNER
Service No: 403827
Born: Hamilton NSW, 26 September 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 march 1941
Unit: No. 70 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 70 Squadron Wellington aircraft MF138), Austria, 7 July 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Klagenfurt War Cemetery, Austria
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Josiah and Alice Turner; husband of Joyce Turner, of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Newcastle NSW
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Newcastle Boys High School Memorial Entrance World War II, waratah NSW
On the night of the 6/7 July 1944 Wellington MF138 took off from the Tortorella landing ground, Italy, detailed to attack the airfield at Fuersbrunn, Austria. The purpose of this attack was to disrupt German fighter aircraft operations against US Bombers raiding facilities on the oil supply route along the Danube River. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was lost and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of MF138 were:
Warrant Officer Robert Barnes Flegg (410155) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Charles Glancey (1601443) (RAF) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant William Smith McIntosh (1559309) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Josiah Turner (403827) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Richard Jervis Vaughan (1410538) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/40/217
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line