LEST WE FORGET
Air Mechanic Second Class George Francis Jack NEEDHAM
Service No: 27571
Born: Burra SA, August 1889
Enlisted in the Army: 27 January 1916
Unit: No. 7 (Training) Squadron, Australian Flying Corps
Died: Injuries from an Aircraft Accident, England, 23 April 1918, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Leighterton Church Cemetery, Leighterton, Gloucestershire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of the late Richard John and Emma Plumb Needham. His brother Charles Francis Albert Needham also fell
Place of Association: Adelaide SA
Remembered: Panel 188, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Gunner Charles Francis Albert Needham (29989), 4th Australian Field Artillery Battery, killed in action in Belgium, 4 October 1917, Aged 19 Years
The official record shows his rank as Air Mechanic Second Class thought he is recorded at the rank of Cadet as a pilot-under-training in many of the documents on his Service Record.
On 23 April 1918, Cadet Needham was killed in the crash of BE2e aircraft B.6176 at Leighterton. The Court of Enquiry found that the accident was due to excessive strain caused by forcing the machine out of a spin causing the right upper rear main spar to break in the air.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record B2455, NEEDHAM GEORGE FRANCIS