LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Raymond BURTON
Service No: 417333
Born: Jamestown SA, 15 March 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 April 1942
Unit: No. 10 Operational Training Unit (RAF), Detachment RAF Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 10 Operational Training Unit Whitley aircraft DB280), Buckinghamshire, 20 October 1943, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Oxford (Bottley) Cemetery, Oxfordshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Leonard and Winifred Burton, of Canowie Belt, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Jamestown SA
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Whitley BD280 took off from Stanton Harcourt at 1840 hours on 20 October 1943, detailed to carry out a night cross country training exercise. When the port engine failed the crew were obliged to make an emergency landing and while doing so at 2330 hours on the 20th October, the bomber stalled at the Pilot tried to avoid a line of high tension cables. Out of control, the aircraft smashed into the ground at Vicarage Farm, a mile or so north north west from the village of Ivinghoe, Buckinghamshire. Four of the crew members were killed in the crash and Sergeant Smart was injured.
The crew members of DB280 were:
Sergeant Derrick Percy Burton (1515874) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Raymond Burton (417333) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer Ivan Kenealy Nicoll (1002233) (RAFVR) (Navigator Under Training)
Pilot Officer Leslie Reginald Vincent Sibley (152298) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant A E Smart (1318424) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) Injured
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, 166/6/302