Operation: Transport

Date: 14th January 1946 (Monday)

Unit: No. 31 Squadron

Type: Dakota IV

Serial: KJ817

Code: Not known

Base: Mount Bongkok, Java

Location: RAF Kemayoran, Jakarta (then Batavia)

Pilot: W/O. Derrick Stanton Sharman 1442929 RAFVR Age 24. Killed

Pilot 2: Sgt. Leslie Ross 1570949 RAFVR Age 22. Killed

Nav: Fl/Sgt. Noel Stannard 1392261 RAFVR Age 24. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: W/O. Wallace Roy Hill 1576070 RAFVR Age 22. Killed

Px: LAC. John Fraser Reid 1376744 RAFVR Age 23. Killed (Air Ambulance orderly)

REASON FOR LOSS:

On an operational sortie from Bandeong (Bandung)to its base at RAF Kemayoran, Batavia, Jakarta when it is thought that the aircraft entered cu-nim cloud and the aircraft crashed in the turbulence on Mount Bongkok on Java.

Burial details:

W/O. Derrick Stanton Sharman. Jakarta War Cemetery. Grave 3.E.15. Son of Edward Charles and Jessie Ravenna Sharman, of Hellesdon, Norfolk, England.

Sgt. Leslie Ross. Jakarta War Cemetery. Grave 3.E.14. Son of Lily Ross, of Catchgate, Annfield Plain, County Durham, England.

Fl/Sgt. Noel Stannard. Jakarta War Cemetery. Grave 3.E.16. Son of Stewart and Winifred Mabel Stannard, of Wembley Hill, Middlesex, England.

Left: As described (courtesy John Ireland)

W/O. Wallace Roy Hill. Jakarta War Cemetery. Grave 3.E.12. Son of Harold and Gertrude Mary Hill, of Nottingham, England. A former pupil of The High Pavement Grammar School (Wollaton House 1935-1939).

LAC. John Fraser Reid. Jakarta War Cemetery. Grave 3.E.13. Son of John Fraser and Edna Mary Reid, of Merton Park, Wimbledon, Surrey, England.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to John Ireland who had been the pilot of Fl/Sgt. Noel Stannard during the war years.