LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Thomas Ian BUTTERFIELD
Service No: 416205
Born: Renmark SA, 24 July 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 April 1941
Unit: No. 30 Squadron, Ward’s Strip. PNG
Died: Air Operations (No. 30 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft A19-68), New Guinea, 12 October 1942, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, PNG
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Beves Butterfield and Gesina Johanna Henriette Butterfield, of Ashfield, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Loxton SA
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
A crew and aircraft were lost on the 12th – Butterfield and Wilson, in A19-68 as wing position to Uren (1), were strafing enemy positions near Kokoda when they crashed into a hill.
(1) Squadron Leader Ronald Frederick Uren DFC (260535) was discharged from the RAAF on 12 December 1944.
Extract from Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed Terry Hills NSW, 1980 – Page 14
The crew members of A19-68 were:
Sergeant Thomas Ian Butterfield (416205) (Pilot)
Sergeant James Rupert Wilson (40196) (Navigator)
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, 163/94/298
Bibliography:
Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed, Terry Hills NSW, 1980
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990