LANEY, Paul
| Service Number: | 427520 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 19 July 1942 |
| Last Rank: | Flying Officer |
| Last Unit: | No. 73 Squadron (RAAF) |
| Born: | Perth, Western Australia, 4 April 1914 |
| Home Town: | Claremont, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Mining Geologist |
| Died: | Flying Battle, Timor Area, Netherlands East Indies, 28 January 1945, aged 30 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Ambon Memorial, Ambon, Maluku, Indonesia. Column 8. |
| Memorials: | Ambon Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Kings Park Western Australia State War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Flying Officer, 427520 | |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Jul 1942: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 427520 | |
| 24 Jun 1943: | Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Pilot Officer, No. 73 Squadron (RAAF), Appointed to a Commission | |
| 24 Dec 1943: | Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, No. 73 Squadron (RAAF) |
Help us honour Paul Laney's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Eldest of four siblings who served in WWII, Flying Officer Paul Laney (Service No:427520) enlisted in the RAAF on 19 July 1942 at No 4 Recruiting Centre Perth as an Aircraftman I, and by December 1943 was a Flying Officer attached to 73 Squadron. In 1944 F/O Laney served with 67 and 11 Squadrons, and was posted to the Northern Territory - 54 Mile in October. F/O Laney was in Darwin attached to 20 Squadron by November 1944, and on 28 January 1945 was reported Missing (presumed KiA) during a mine laying mission in the Lacet Straits (on Catalina A24-204).
Paul was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1914, eldest of four children of William (Will) Paul Higgins/Looney (b1878 at Canning Landing, Fremantle, Western Australia) and Victoria Agnes Hehir (b1886 in Huntly, Bendigo, Victoria). Will (a Telegraphist in Kalgoorlie) and Victoria (a Barmaid at Daveyhurst via Menzies) married in 1913 in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Will and Victoria lived in Bunbury, and the Kalgoorlie region (Israelite Bay, Rawlinna and Kanowna) where Will was Chief Telegraphist. In the late 1930s Victoria settled with the children in Perth, where Will died in 1942.
Paul (Looney) was a Mining Geologist in Gwalia in 1940 when he married Isobel Katherine Greig (b1911 in Perth, Western Australia) - Isobel was working in Perth as a Clerk. Paul was working in Gwalia as a Geologist when he enlisted in the RAAF in 1942. On 23 October 1944, a name change from 'Looney' to 'Laney' was authorised. Following Paul's death, Isobel lived in Perth with their two sons, and later remarried.
Click images to start slideshow.