Eric Valentine FORD

FORD, Eric Valentine

Service Number: 255138
Enlisted: 19 May 1941
Last Rank: Flight Lieutenant
Last Unit: No. 24 Squadron (RAAF)
Born: London, England, 14 February 1911
Home Town: Mount Barker, Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Motor Engineer
Died: Flying Battle, Netherlands East Indies, 6 April 1945, aged 34 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Northern Territory Memorial, Adelaide River, Northern Territory, Australia. Panel 6.
Memorials: Adelaide River Northern Territory Memorial, Adelaide WW2 Wall of Remembrance, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
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World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Flight Lieutenant, 255138
19 May 1941: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, No. 24 Squadron (RAAF)
19 May 1941: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Lieutenant, 255138
Date unknown: Involvement

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Biography contributed by David Barlow

RAAF Liberator aircraft A72-77 of Number 24 Squadron was shot down over Soemba Strait in the Netherlands East Indies with 11 crew on board.  Two crewmen survived bailing out - Warrant Officer Vickers 401867 (discharged October 1945) & Flight Sergeant Sayer 30337 (discharged November 1945)

The survivors were picked up by Catalina flying boat A24-54 of 112 Air Sea Rescue Flight Darwin but that aircraft was subsequently destroyed by strafing from a Japanese fighter with the loss of crewman Sergeant Jones 34647.  Another Catalina from 43SQN landed an hour later to pick up Vickers & Sayer and the surviving crew from A24-54 plus Warrant Officer Shilling 406816 from Liberator A72-81 which had been shot down on the same mission. After a running battle with Japanese fighters the second Catalina reached Darwin with no more fatalities.

All those killed in this action from Liberator A72-77 are commemorated on the Northern Territory Memorial to the Missing located at Adelaide River War Cemetery, NT -

Warrant Officer Alan Noel John Collins 424373 - Son of William Young Collins and Eva Collins of Crows Nest, NSW

Flight Lieutenant Lance Dixon Crowther 403560 - Son of Philip Dixon and Winifred Emily Crowther of Lindfield, NSW

Flight Sergeant Ian Faichnie 431408 - Son of Alexander Faulkner Faichnie and Florence Emily Faichnie of Ivanhoe, Victoria

Flight Lieutenant Valentine Ford 255138 - Son of Francis Charles and Louisa Ann Ford of Eden Hill, South Australia

Flying Officer Bernard Thomas Jordan 407825 - Son of Ernest Edward and Lydia Agnes Jordan & Husband of Kathleen Mona Jordan of Dulwich, South Australia

Flight Lieutenant William Laing 406568 - Son of William and Margaret Liddell Laing of Mosman Park, Western Australia

Flight Sergeant Leslie Raine 439612 - Son of Percy and Margaret Raine of Earlwood, NSW

Flight Sergeant John Munro Waddell 443444 - Son of John and Elsie May Waddell of Ryde, NSW

Flight Sergeant Keith Jowett White 433632 - Son of Frederick James White and Elsie May White of Bankstown, NSW

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