LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Maxwell ASHDOWN
Service No: 295326
Born: Katanning WA, 11 December 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 June 1940
Unit: No. 6 Service Flying Training School, Mallala SA
Died: Aircraft Accident (Air Armament and Gas School Wirraway aircraft A20-182), near Nhill VIC, 2 July 1945, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Nhill Public Cemetery VIC
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Hubert Stanley and Florence Charlotte Ashdown; husband of Mavis Sanderson Ashdown, of Hollywood, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 115, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
On 2 July 1945, Flight Lieutenant Ashdown was authorised by Squadron Leader Joseph Irwin Stanley (583) (Discharged: 3 September 1946), Officer Commanding Flying Control, Air Armament and Gas School, Nhill, to fly A20-182 from 1020 to 1130 hours on flying practice. With three other Trainee pilots from No. 6 Service Flying training School, Flight Lieutenant Ashdown was present on the Unit for conversion to Wirraway aircraft. At 1120 hours, Control received a phone call advising that A20-182 had crashed 1.5 miles east of Lorquon, Victoria, when the aircraft flicked during a steep turn and Flight Lieutenant Ashdown had been killed.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/4/248; A9845, 107