LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Cecil Gwynne UNDERWOOD
Service No: 420720
Born: Sydney NSW, 24 August 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 November 1941
Unit: No. 180 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Dunsfold
Died: Air Operations: (No. 180 Squadron Mitchell aircraft FL707), France, 26 November 1943, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Cherbourg Old Communal Cemetery, Manche, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Horatio Nelson Underwood and Marie Isabel Underwood, of Potts Point, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Mitchell FL707 took off from Dunsfold as part of a formation detailed to carry out a daylight attack on construction works at Martinvast, Cherbourg, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team later reported: “As a result of a collision with another aircraft FL707 crashed at Trouville at approximately 1400 hours on 26 November 1943. There were no survivors from either aircraft.” The formation encountered heavy flak over the target area and was broken up. It was presumed that another aircraft of No. 180 Squadron collided with FL707 which went down out of control. Eventually one aircraft struck the ground, and the other broke up in the air.
The crew members of FL707 were:
Warrant Officer Allen John Painting (412673) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Lieutenant William Anderson Solheim (T-190848) (US Army) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Samuel Robert Troman (R/178352) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Cecil Gwynne Underwood (420720) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
The crew members of the other No. 180 squadron Mitchell aircraft were:
Warrant Officer Frederick Burgess Dixon (550726) (RAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Charles Sidney Graves (1377880) (RAFVR) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Reginald Robert Howlett (1335537) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant George James Saunders (1381689) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
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, 166/41/7