LEST WE FORGET
Wing Commander Alexander Noel CONSTANTINE
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Commanding Officer No. 136 Squadron RAF 1943-4
Service No: 40893 (RAF)
Born: Moama NSW, 13 December 1914
Enlisted in the RAF: Short Service Commission granted July 1938
Discharged from the RAF: 29 August 1946
Unit at Discharge: Officer Commanding Air Fighter Tactics, RAF Air Headquarters, India
Died: Aircraft Incident (DC3 aircraft registration VT-CLA), Java, 29 July 1947, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Location unavailable
CWGC Additional Information: Not listed
Roll of Honour: Not eligible
Remembered: Commemorative Roll, Australian War Memorial, Canberra
Wing Commander Constantine fought in the Battle of Britain and was credited with 8 kills and assisted kills in the South East Asia Theatre.
Kalinga Airlines (later nationalised and merged into Air India in 1953) DC-3 aircraft VT-CLA was chartered by the Indonesian Government to carry medical supplies provided by the Malaysian Red Cross to the Indonesia Red Cross from Singapore to Yogyakarta. On 29 July 1947, the aircraft was shot down by an ML-KNIL (Royal Dutch Indies Army) Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter. VT-CLA went into a dive, first crashing into a tree then into paddy fields in Ngoto, Bantul. Only its tail remained in one piece and 8 of the 9 on board were killed. Dutch authorities claimed that they had not been informed of the flight and that the aircraft carried no Red Cross markings, but later provided financial restitution.
On board VT-CLA were:
Air Commodore Augustinus Adisucipto (Indonesian)
Beryl Constantine (wife of Alexander) Fatally injured
Alexander Noel Constantine (Pilot)
Abdulgani Handonotjokro (Indonesian) Injured
Air Commodore Abdul Rahman Saleh (Indonesian)
Adi Soemarmo Wirjokusumo (Indonesian)
Three further fatalities
References:
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll On-Line Records
Aviation Safety Network Website
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A12288, 6/957
Odgers, G.J. (George James) (VX127783) Air War Against Japan 1943-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1957 – Page 273
Wikipedia
Bibliography:
RAAF Directorate of Public Relations, RAAF Saga, Australian War Memorial Canberra, 1944 – Chapter: Burma’s Story