LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Norman Charles BECK
Service No: 402216
Born: Sydney NSW, 6 May 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 July 1940
Unit: No. 162 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 162 Squadron Wellington aircraft DV944), Egypt, 3 November 1942, Aged 24 Years
Buried: El Alamein War Cemetery, Egypt
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles and Carmen Daphne Beck, of Bellevue Hill, New South Wales, Australia. B.A. (Sydney)
Roll of Honour: Hunters Hill NSW
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Municipality of Hunters Hill War Memorial Honour Rolls, Hunters Hill NSW
Remembered: St John’s Anglican Church 1939-1945 Roll of Honour, Woolwich NSW
Remembered: University of Sydney World War 2 Roll of Honour, Camperdown NSW
At 2305 hours on 3 November 1942 Wellington DV944 crashed at Landing Ground 86, Egypt. The aircraft had successfully completed one bombing sortie and was taking off to carry out a second sortie with the same crew. There were no witnesses to the accident which occurred shortly after take-off. An investigation the following day revealed that the aircraft had hit the runway but again became airborne, and then crashed after the port airscrew had flown off. The undercarriage was in the up position and it was believed that the accident was due to premature retraction of the undercarriage in the darkness.
The crew members for DV944 were:
Pilot Officer Norman Charles Beck (402216) (Observer)
Pilot Officer Patrick Joseph Farren (411391) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Hector Ronald Harrison (404467) (Wireless Air Gunner) Injured, Killed on Air Operations: 28 April 1944
Sergeant Austin Michael Nott (1381326) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer John James Silcox (J/15784) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Walter Leonard Wallis (402475) (Wireless Air Gunner)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9300, BECK N C
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line