Edith Tansley SHARPE

SHARPE, Edith Tansley

Service Number: 94089
Enlisted: 2 January 1942
Last Rank: Corporal
Last Unit: Aircraft / Repair / Salvage Depots
Born: Allora, Queensland, Australia, 19 June 1920
Home Town: Innisfail, Cassowary Coast, Queensland
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Shop Assistant
Died: Aircraft Accident, Amberley, Queensland, Australia, Amberley, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, 16 August 1945, aged 25 years
Cemetery: Ipswich General Cemetery, Qld
C of E Plot Section A Grave B293, Ipswich General Cemetery, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Innisfail Cenotaph
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World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Corporal, 94089
2 Jan 1942: Enlisted Corporal, 94089, Aircraft / Repair / Salvage Depots
2 Jan 1942: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Corporal, 94089

Help us honour Edith Tansley Sharpe's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by David Barlow

Daughter of Ralph Taysun Sharpe and Lucy Sharpe of Innisfail, Queensland

Liberator A72-306 of Number 99 Squadron crashed on take-off from Amberley Airfield with four personnel on board killed:

Corporal Jacqueline Ruth Row WAAAF 98112 of Number 3 Aircraft Depot

Corporal Edith Tansley Sharpe WAAAF 94089 of Number 3 Aircraft Depot

Flight Sergeant Arthur Kevin Clausen 439868 of Number 99 Squadron

Warrant Officer Eric Ferdinand Carlson 424965 of Number 99 Squadron died two days after the incident in Greenslopes hospital

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Biography contributed by Keith McPhee

Edith Tansley Sharpe was born at Allora, Queensland, Australia, a daughter of Ralph Taysun and Lucy (nee Henry) Sharpe. By 1925 the family had moved to Innisfail, Queensland. After her formal schooling, Edith worked as a drapery shop assistant in Innisfail.

At Brisbane in 1942 Edith voluntarily enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force and, after training at Geelong, Victoria, was posted to Amberley near Ipswich, Queensland.

On the afternoon of the 16 August 1945 at RAAF Amberley, a Liberator A72-306 aircraft of RAAF Number 99 Squadron was one of nine B-24 Liberators scheduled to take part in a formation flight over Brisbane during the Victory Celebrations (after Japan had surrendered to the Allies). On board the aircraft were a crew of eight plus eleven passengers, one of the passengers being WAAAF Corporal Sharpe.

During take-off procedures the aircraft’s brakes were applied too soon and, as a result, the nose of the aircraft dipped into the runway causing the nose wheel assembly to collapse. The aircraft skidded off the runway into a deep gully and broke in half.

Three personnel died in the crash, one of whom was Corporal Edith Tansley Sharpe, aged 25 years.

 

https://www.ozatwar.com/ozcrashes/qld245.htm

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