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Australia

Robert Wylie Burns CUMING was born on 5th March, 1911 in Torrensville, South Australia

His parents were Robert Burns CUMING and Doris WYLIE who married on 12th April, 1910 at St Peters College Chapel, Hackney, South Australia

His father Robert was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and arrived in South Australia in 1910 on the ship Orsova

Robert had 3 siblings, Jack Colin CUMING, Shirley Meg Burns CUMING & Molly CUMING - his brother Jack (Service No. SX2892 was a Captain and was Killed in Action in Papua on 20th November, 1942

Robert married Patricia Margaret MOORE in 1935 in Victoria - Patricia died in Singapore in 1947 following a fall at the Adelphi Hotel

He enlisted in October 1939 & got his Wings in February 1940, was promoted to Flying Officer in March 1940 and promoted to Flight Lieutenant in January 1941 - he trained at the No 1 Flying Training School in Point Cook from December 1939

After he received his commission in January he was for sometime a navigation instructor at Cootamundra Air School.  He was educated at Queens School, St Peters College and the Adelaide University, studying industrial chemistry and doing further study in England.  he received his rowing blue and won the heavyweight boxing championship at St Peters College

Before he enlisted he was Works Manager of the Adelaide Chemical and Fertilizer Co. Ltd at Port Adelaide

Robert was a Flight Lieutenant with No. 2 Squadron & died on 20th January 1942 in Timor and is buried in Ambon War Cemetery - his name is memorialised at the Australian War Memorial

Cumming was born at Torrensville, SA, on the 5th of March 1911 to 1912 to Doris and Robert Burns Cumming. He had three Siblings Jack Colin Cuming, Shirly Meg Burns Cuming and Molly Cumming. His. Brother Jack served as a Captain in the 27th Infantry Battalion and was killed in action in Papua New Guinea, November 1942.

In 1929 Cuming commenced a Science and Applied Science course, residing at St Marks College, going on to study at the Imperial College of Chemistry, London in 1933. In December 1934 he returned from England where he had been rowing with the London Rowing Club and married Patricia Margaret Moore in 1935.

Prior to enlistment, Cuming worked at the Adelaide Chemical and Fertilizer Co. in Port Adelaide as a works manager.

Cuming enlisted into the RAAF in October of 1939, receiving his Wings in early 1940.

Robert Wylie Burns Cuming was killed in an aircraft accident, flying a Hudson aircraft during the evacuation of West Timor on the 20th of January 1942.

“Flight Lieutenant Cuming taxied to a position for maximum runway length (at Penfoei). The aircraft was then held by the brakes until the engines had been taken up to maximum revs (full power). With the brakes released the aircraft began to accelerate rapidly, but, as it passed our position, it was obvious that the tail would not lift. I vividly remember a terrible feeling of apprehension. Suddenly the tail began to rise only to fall back with a jolt that must have sent the unsecured load sliding towards the rear. The next moment the aircraft with screaming engines climbed at an almost vertical angle, turned on its bank at a height of approximately 100 feet, and then crashed nose first into the end of the runway in a ball of flame with ammunition exploding in all directions. A Shocking tragedy.”

Extracts from Bennett, J. (John) Highest Traditions: The History of No. 2 Squadron RAAF, AGPS Canberra, 1995 – Page 124 (as quoted from Corporal Arthur Richard Taylor (11035) Record of RAAF Service June 1993, No. 2 Squadron Association, Melbourne)

“On 20th January a Hudson, heavily laden with stores and men for Namlea, stalled on take-off from Penfui and crashed. The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Cuming, and nine others in the aircraft, including a party of ground staff for the advanced base, were all killed.”

Extract from Gillison, D.N. (Douglas Napier) (254475) Royal Australian Air Force 1939-1942, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1962 – Page 417