LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Clive Alfred WOODS
Service No: 400611
Born: Northcote VIC, 12 February 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 September 1940
Unit: No. 38 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 38 Squadron Wellington aircraft HX402), off the North African Coast, 23 September 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred William and Elsie Marie Woods, of Ivanhoe, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Ivanhoe VIC
Remembered: Column 265, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the night of 23 September 1942 Wellington HX402 took off from RAF Station Gianaclis to carry out a torpedo operation against a target in a position approximately 60 miles north of Cape El Tin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. The aircraft crashed at sea killing two crew members and the other three became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of HX402 were:
Sergeant J F Archer (535930) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot) PoW
Sergeant A C J Brogden (1380637) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) PoW
Flight Sergeant Ronald Victor Flanagan (400273) (Pilot) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 25 October 1945
Warrant Officer Clive Alfred Woods (40611) (Observer)
Sergeant Vernon Young (1260292) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Flanagan later stated: “Woods was drowned when the plane crashed in the sea one and a half hours after take-off and before attacking the target. Both engines cut out at 1,200 feet. He had just handed over the controls to the Second Pilot and was discussing the course with Woods. He immediately ordered crash landing stations, and moved aft to the wobble pump and petrol cocks.
While aft he removed the astro hatch, turned all the petrol cocks on and operated the wobble pump for a short time. He then moved forward and stood in the second pilot’s position. From there he advised the second pilot on the best method to make a safe landing. The aircraft crashed about 50 miles north north west of Mersa Matruh. He was knocked unconscious and became entangled in wreckage. He managed to free himself and saw a dinghy 50 yard away. The only members to survive the crash were Sergeants Archer, Brogden and himself.” It was later recorded that Warrant Officer Woods and Sergeant Young had lost their lives at sea.
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, 163/179/216