LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Athol WHITE
Service No: 430524
Born: Bacchus Marsh VIC, 29 September 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 January 1943
Unit: No. 1667 Conversion Unit (RAF) RAF Sandtoft, Lincolnshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1667 Conversion Unit Wellington aircraft JA343), Derbyshire, 8 November 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Chester (Blacon) Cemetery, Cheshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ernest Albert and Elsie May White, of Tocumwal, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Tocumwal NSW
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Tocumwal War Memorial, Tocumwal NSW
On the 8th November 1944, Wellington JA343 took off on a cross country night flight, and crashed 20 minutes after take off one mile south south west of Church Broughton airfield at 1955 hours. It appeared that the Pilot lost control when climbing in cloud, and from the disposition of the wreckage, the aircraft broke up during the dive, or during the attempted recovery from the dive.
The crew members of JA343 were:
Sergeant William J Drozdiak (R/272259) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Harold Lawson Fernstrom (R/218750) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant James Frederick Gazzard (R/220611) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant John Spurgeon Hood (R/188432) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Athol White (430524) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Bernard Ivor Williams (1853012) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/43/941
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line