LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Duncan Dudley WESTGARTH
Service No: 413463
Born: Blayney NSW, 13 October 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 August 1941
Unit: No. 261 Squadron (RAF), Myingyang, Myanmar
Died: Aircraft Accident: (No. 261 Squadron Thunderbolt aircraft KJ325), Myanmar, 25 April 1945, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Taukkyan War Cemetery, Myanmar
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Dudley and Lucy Kathleen Westgarth, of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: University of Sydney World War 2 Roll of Honour, Camperdown NSW
Brother of Captain Brian Dudley Westgarth (NX204348) (Australian Army)
On 25 April 1945, Pilot Officer Westgarth was leader of a Section of two aircraft taking part in an offensive patrol over Pyu. The section carried out the patrol sortie and was entering the landing circuit at Myingyang when KJ325 collided with a Harvard aircraft of No. 261 Squadron (Pilot Officer Godwin Leonard Scudamore (200542) (RAFVR)) which was also preparing to land. The Harvard aircraft crashed immediately killing Pilot Officer Scudamore, but KJ325 continued on the circuit for a considerable distance until the engine began to splutter and then completely cut. The aircraft finally crashed near the airstrip and Pilot Officer Westgarth was killed.
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, 166/43/1322
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line