Desmond Edward James GARDINER

GARDINER, Desmond Edward James

Service Numbers: 1198, 251432
Enlisted: 3 June 1927
Last Rank: Flight Lieutenant
Last Unit: Aircraft / Repair / Salvage Depots
Born: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 27 November 1902
Home Town: Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria
Schooling: Unknown
Occupation: Inspector of aircraft civil aviation/Fitter & Turner
Died: Flying Battle, Yugoslavia, 16 July 1944, aged 41 years
Cemetery: Belgrade War Cemetery, Serbia
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
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World War 2 Service

3 Jun 1927: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, 1198, Aircraft / Repair / Salvage Depots

Non Warlike Service

24 Feb 1930: Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, 1198

World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Flight Lieutenant, 251432
Date unknown: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Lieutenant, 251432

Help us honour Desmond Edward James Gardiner's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by David Barlow

Flight Lieutenant Gardiner 251432 (Pilot) was killed when Dakota KG472 of Number 267 Squadron RAF crashed in Yugoslavia

The aircraft was on a mission to insert British Army personnel who were to act as liaison officers by landing at an airstrip built by partisan forces

The ten survivors of the crash included Major Randolf Churchill (the son of Winston Churchill) and the novelist, Captain Evelyn Waugh who was then a Commando

Biography contributed

Desmond Edward James GARDINER was born in Collingwood, Melbourne on 27th November, 1902

His parents were Edgar Robert Watson GARDINER & Lucy Margaret DAVIES

He married Rose Irene LEE in Victoria in 1931

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His father Edgar served in the Boer War (SN 1280) and WW1 (SN 257)