Showing 1 person of interest from memorial
HAINES, Norman Dudley
Service number 416956
Born 1 Jul 1917
Monteith Avro Ansons R3542 and W2165 Crash Site
Details
| Location | Monteith, The Coorong - South Australia, Australia |
| Type | raaf_accident_site |
| Description | RAAF WW2 Crash Site Repatriation File - https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au//SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=1059578 On Tuesday 4th August 1942 at 0950 hours, two Avro Ansons from 6 Service Flying Training School, Mallala, R3542 and W2165; collided in mid-air whilst performing low-level formation flying in a flight of three aircraft. Crew: R3542 2366
406625
409484
REPORTS: Official: Summary: The purpose of the flight was a cross-country exercise with the added task of formation flying; this would the first time any of the trainees underwent formation flying. 6 Ansons took off at 0815 hours for this purpose in two flights of three, during the flight to Tailem Bend (the last leg of the exercise) flight positions changed several times. After initially flying at 2.5 wingspan distance the aircraft had closed to 1 wingspan formation training. At the time of the crash, R3542 was in No 1 position with W2165 coming into No 2 position from No3 after No 2 aircraft encountered a fuel problem and dropped out of formation; the flight had changed from V formation to Echelon Right formation at approximately 2,000 feet. Observed from No3 aircraft the port wing of W2165 hit the tail plane then hit the wingtip of R3542 while closing in formation. The impact was such that it tore part of the tail plane and starboard wingtip from R3542, the aircraft crashed into willow trees on the north side riverbank in an inverted position. W2165 fell into approx 40 feet of water near the middle of the river. Eyewitness: Report 1 who was watching from the main road near his dairy farm: "They were manoeuvring in and about each other… then there was this great bang. Of all the places to down they had to go down in the river. I was in a spring-cart with my infant daughter, as soon as it happened I galloped down there as fast as I could." "The nearest plane came down in the swamp in front of my dairy property, hitting a stand of Willow trees and embedding itself in the watery surface." "Two feet deep this mud was, I battled through it to the wreckage and pulled an airman from the shallow water but it was no good, they were all dead. She (the plane) was all smashed up…it was all smashed up, the smell of petrol made you sick." Report 2 who was watching from the main road: "They had been flying around and changing positions, then one of them dropped back, then the other took his place and thump, the front two hit. Both planes dropped from my sight into the river, no flames or anything just bits and pieces falling with the planes." Report 3 at the crash site: "We pulled four out of the plane that hit the willows and two from the other one, little of the aircraft were salvageable. A barge went out the following day and retrieved some metal framework, but the two engines were not dredged up until a few years later." NB: A discrepancy existed at the Inspectorate's departure on the 5th August and that of witness report 3. The Inspectorate stated that when he departed only the bodies from aircraft W2165 had been recovered. On Friday August 27 1941 a report was given to the Murray Bridge Police of a body floating in the river four miles from Tailem Bend; the body of Sgt. Gordon Cooper was recovered that day. On Sunday August 30 1941 a report was given to the Murray Bridge Police of a body of an airman caught in the willows and floating in the river approximately 200 yards from the scene of the crash; the body of LAC Leslie Cadd was recovered that day. The bodies of Flying Officer Wotzko and LAC Haines were not recovered.
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| Built | Not yet discovered |
| Opened | Not yet discovered |
| Inscription | Centennial Park War Cemetery: 1939 – 1945 THE SERVICEMEN WHO ARE HONOURED HERE DIED IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. THEIR REMAINS WERE CREMATED AND THE ASHES SCATTERED OR REST IN PLACES WHERE FULL COMMEMORATION COULD NOT BE GIVEN. SERGEANTS 406625 PHILLIPS, H. G. Mallala War Cemetery RAAF Crest 420056 LDG. AIRCRAFTMAN J. B. RICHARDSON ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE 23RD SEPTEMBER 1943 AGE 28 … RAAF Crest 409484 LDG. AIRCRAFTMAN C. M. SAY ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE 23RD SEPTEMBER 1943 AGE 23 … NOT GOOD-NIGHT BUT IN SOME BRIGHTER CLIME BID ME GOOD-MORNING Murray Bridge Cemetery: RAAF Crest 416929 LDG. AIRCRAFTMAN L. CADD ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE 4TH AUGUST 1942 AGE 18 … RAAF Crest 413187 SERGEANT G. COOPER ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE 4TH AUGUST 1942 AGE 27 … GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAT HE LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIEND SYDNEY MEMORIAL Panels to Flying Officer Wotzko and LAC Haines are located at Sydney War Cemetery in the grounds of the Rookwood Necropolis. The panels are to recognise (amongst others) those who perished and their remains not recovered. The inscription on a continuous frieze on the memorial states: 1939-HERE ARE RECORDED THE NAMES OF THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO DIED IN THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN REGIONS OF AUSTRALIA, ON LAND, AT SEA, AND IN THE AIR, BUT TO WHOM THE FORTUNE OF WAR DENIED THE KNOWN AND HONOURED BURIAL GIVEN TO THEIR COMRADES IN DEATH-1945 |
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