LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer William Edward BRINE
Service No: 406023
Born: Mount Lawley WA, 30 October 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 May 1940
Unit: No. 39 Squadron (RAF), Wadi Natrun, Egypt
Died: Air Operations: (No. 39 Squadron Maryland aircraft AH283), Libya, 15 June 1941, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred Tonkin Brine and Gladys Ida Brine, of Gooseberry Hill, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Kalamunda WA
Remembered: Column 245, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Maryland AH283 of 39 Squadron was detailed to carry out a strategic and photographic reconnaissance of Gazala, Acroma, Trig-el-Abd to Bardia. The aircraft took off from Fuka satellite aerodrome at 1030 hours on 15 June 1941. When near Gambut at 2,000 feet it was attacked by three ME 109s and subsequently crashed. Two crew members were killed and two baled out and became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of AH283 were:
Pilot Officer William Edward Brine (406023) (Pilot)
Sergeant Douglas Charles Gordon (644693) (RAF)
Sergeant Ronald Milton Hines (402086) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 30 October 1945
Pilot Officer Robert Arnold Malloch (402078) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 14 December 1944
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/24/145
Bibliography:
Ilbery, P.L.T. (Peter Leslie Thomas) (422957) Hatching an Air Force: 2SFTS, 5SFTS, 1BFTS Uranquinty and Wagga Wagga, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 2002