Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Flying Boat A18-12 of 33 Squadron RAAF was extensively damaged in a landing accident in Cleveland Bay near Townsville on Friday 27 February 1942 opposite the Queens Hotel.  Killed in the incident were:

Pilot Officer Peter Satterswaite Devonshire 407942 - Son of Lieutenant-Colonel Guy Satterswaite Devonshire and Doris Devonshire of Unley, SA

Pilot Officer Harold John Wagner 4215 - Son of John Henry and Catherine Wagner & Husband of Vivien Beatrice Aileen Wagner of Kingaroy, Queensland

Corporal William James French 10429 - Son of William James French and Mary Jane French & Husband of Doris Ethel French of Ulverstone, Tasmania

LAC Maurice Clayton 15065 - Son of Stanley and Florence Anne Clayton of East Katoomba, NSW

Flying Officer Robert John Love 400004 - Husband of Patricia Christine Love of Potts Point, NSW

Corporal Ronald Short 15928 - Son of James and Frederica Alice Short of Pennant Hills, NSW (died 3/3)

Sergeant John Gordon Nicholson 17708 - Son of Joseph and Maud Augusta Nicholson of Fremantle, WA (body not recovered, he is memorialised on the Panel 6 of the Sydney Memorial)

Corporal Ray Silvester Diggles of the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) 93900 - Daughter of George Silvester Diggles and Ida May Diggles of East Brisbane, Queensland (body not recovered, she is memorialised on the Panel 7 of the Sydney Memorial)

Also on board at the time of the crash were:

Flight Sergeant Kenneth Macleay Poulton 34542 - discharged 24MAR1944

Flight Lieutenant Alan Filmer 274159 - discharged 30NOV1945

Flying Officer Leonard Charles Laurence 264288 - discharged 22DEC1943

(Short S23 C-Class S.849, Empire Flying Boat, RAAF aircraft A18-12 - G-AEUG "Coogee" was registered as VH-ABC on 26 September 1938. It was impressed to RAAF service from QANTAS on 28 August 1940. This was one of four Empire flying boats impressed into RAAF service)

Son of Lt.-Col. Guy Satterswaite Devonshire and Doris Devonshire, of Unley, South Australia.

Pilot-Officer Peter S. Devonshire, only son of Lieut.-Col. G. S. and Mrs. Devonshire, of Keswick, lost his life in a plane accident at Townsville, Queensland, on February 27. Enlisting in the R.A.A.F. on his nineteenth birthday, June 19, 1940, he was called up for service on February 3, 1941.

Pilot-Officer Devonshire gained his wings at Point Cook, and was appointed to a commission on October 19, 1941. He was drafted to the Fleet Air Arm at Rathmines, and later stationed at Port Moresby and Townsville. 

He was educated at the Richmond Public School, and later at St. Peter's College, representing the latter at intercollegiate sports. Before his enlistment in the R.A.A.F. he was employed on the staff of the Vacuum Oil Co.