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Operation: Training
Date: 08th May 1942 (Friday)
Unit: No. 452 Squadron (RAAF) (motto: Miundus Pro Nobis - 'Sweeping the world before us'). 11 Group
Type: Spitfire Vb
Serial: BL351
Code: UD-H
Base: RAF Andrea, Isle of Man
Location: Over airfield
Pilot: Sgt. Reginald Allan Goodhew Aus/403332 RAAF Age 23. Killed
REASON FOR LOSS:
During a training exercise, 23 year old P/O. William Hendrie Ford Aus/401429 flying Spitfire Vb AB244 was acting as target aircraft for Sgt. Goodhew who was practicing gun-camera quarter attacks.
Sgt. Goodhew was making a head-on attack but suffered an error of judgement by failing to break away then crashing into William Ford’s Spitfire. Sgt. Goodhew died when his aircraft smashed into the ground beside Andrea’s airfield but P/O. Ford was able to steer his mortally damaged aircraft a short distance away before baling out, his aircraft crashed onto Farrants Farm near St Judes.
On the 27th February 1943, then as F/O. Ford flying Spitfire VcT BS175 with five others along with a Hudson from 13 Squadron to fly to Wyndham. 40 minutes later, the flight encountered ten tenths cloud and a severe thunderstorm. After emerging from the storm, it was observed BS175 was not in formation and could not be contacted. The crashed aircraft was located on the 06th March 1943. The investigating officer opined that BS175 spun into the ground and struck a rock mountain side (Tabletop Range, Litchfield Park, Northen Territories), blew up and caught fire killing F/O Ford.
Above: A plaque was placed some years later in June 1995 and a 20mm cannon is embedded in the rocks, forming part of a memorial to the pilot.
Burial details:
Sgt. Reginald Allan Goodhew. Andreas Churchyard (St. Andrew). Service Plot. Grave 5. Born on the 09th November 1918 in Leeton, New South Wales, Australia. Son of Frederick Howard Goodhew and Maud Mabel Goodhew, of Orange, New South Wales, Australia.. Epitaph: 'His Duty Nobly Done. We Shall Remember Him'.
F/O. William Hendrie Ford. Adelaide River War Cemetery. Grave R.D.7. Born on the 03rd August 1918 in Victoria, Australia. Enlisted on the 03rd February 1941 in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia, Son of Joseph William and Susan Wilhelmina Ford, of Prospect, South Australia. Epitaph: 'Our Dear Son Ever Remembered May His Sacrifice Be Not In Vain'.
Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to the extensive research by Paul McGuiness RAAF Archives, National Archive, Kew, Australian National Archives.
KTY 22-07-2024
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Binyon
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Last Modified: 22 July 2024, 20:25