LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Arthur Moorehouse WATKINS
Service No: Unavailable
Born: Whitton NSW, 18 January 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 January 1935 (at RAAF Station Point Cook VIC)
Unit: No. 1 Flying Training School, RAAF Station Point Cook VIC
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1 Flying Training School Anson aircraft N4887), near RAAF Station Richmond NSW, 18 December 1939, Aged 24 Years
Cremated: Northern Suburbs Crematorium, Sydney NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Dr. Arthur Moorehouse Watkins and Bertha Eugenie Watkins, of Roseville
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 5, NSW Cremation Memorial, Sydney
Remembered: Panel 117, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Ku-ring-gai World War 2 Book of Remembrance, Gordon NSW
At about 0119 hours on 18 December 1939, Anson N4887 took off and soon after ground crew heard a loud roar then the sound of a crash. The ground crew members ran to the area of the sounds and found the aircraft had disintegrated on impact. One engine had been driven deep into the earth. The crew members of N4887 had all been killed with remains and debris scattered over a wide area.
The crew members of N4887 were:
Flight Lieutenant Henry Parker Fitzgerald
Flight Lieutenant Hugh Vaughan Horner
Leading Aircraftman Leonard John King (3891) (Wireless Telegraph Operator)
Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Musgrave McInnes
Flight Lieutenant Arthur Moorehouse Watkins (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 A9300, WATKINS A M; A9845, 67
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line