LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Clyde Samuel Joseph WARBROOK
Service No: 413293
Born: West Maitland NSW, 20 June 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 August 1941
Unit: No. 7 Squadron, Tadji PNG
Died: Air Operations: (No. 7 Squadron Beaufort aircraft A9-599), Bismarck Sea, 11 February 1945, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Mr. and Mrs. P. J. Warbrook, of West Maitland, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 6, Lae Memorial PNG
Remembered: Panel 99, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 11 February 1945, Beaufort A9-599 went missing on an Anti-Submarine Warfare patrol from Tadji in Patrol Area Alpha. Once the ETA had passed, four aircraft from the Squadron were immediately tasked for a search of the patrol area and a Beaufort aircraft from No. 100 Squadron conducted a coastal search. The following day a Catalina aircraft also conducted a search, all without result.
The crew members of A9-599 were:
Flight Lieutenant Raymond Herbert O’Farrell (405321) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer James Starling (408886) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Ronald James Thomas (404683) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Clyde Samuel Joseph Warbrook (413293) (Wireless Air Gunner)
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 A9845, 262