LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Kenneth Leslie BLACKHAM
Service No: 400269
Born: St Kilda VIC, 14 January 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 August 1940
Unit: No. 209 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident: (No. 209 Squadron Catalina aircraft AH558), off the Welsh Coast, 22 February 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leslie Claude and Myrtle Nellie Blackham, of East Malvern, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 109, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0438 hours on 22 February 1942 Catalina AH559 took off from Pembroke Dock on an operational flight. The aircraft crashed at approximately 0445 hours near the mouth of Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire. The area was searched but no trace of the aircraft or crew members was found.
The crew members of AH559 were:
Sergeant Fred Ashworth (1059874) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Clement Herbert Atkinson (953096) (RAFVR) (Air Observer)
Flying Officer Kenneth Leslie Blackham (40269) (Third Pilot)
Sergeant Frederick George Cross (568279) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Michael Charles Daniell (761087) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/ Air Gunner)
Aircraftman Class I John Edward Gardner (1161983) (RAFVR) (Flight Mechanic Airframe under training Flight Engineer Air Gunner)
Corporal Cyril Hacker (521356) (RAF) (Fitter 2E under training Flight Engineer / Air Gunner)
Sergeant Edward Joseph Hartley (1051493) (RAFVR) (Air Observer)
Flight Lieutenant Charles James Norton (84969) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flying Officer John Edward Ramshaw (60536) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Ernest Talbot (1310485) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/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 A705, 163/24/224