LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Terence John GAWNE
Service No: 408648
Born: Ararat VIC, 26 October 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 May 1941
Unit: No. 22 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 22 Squadron Boston aircraft A28-27), New Britain, 30 January 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Rabaul (Bita Paka) War Cemetery PNG
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Eugene and Ellen Theresa Gawne of Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Surrey Hills VIC
Remembered: Panel 101, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 30 January 1944, Boston A28-27 was one of two aircraft detailed to carry out an offensive sweep from Mevelo River to Lindenhaven, and while en route to take photos of gun pits and buildings at Kabu River. A28-27 crashed on the east side of the Kabu River while flying low over a gun pit position at Cape Dampier. The aircraft was apparently hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire as a sheet of flame was seen to come from the aircraft, and it went into s diving turn of 180 degrees and struck the ground in practically vertical position. In 1946 a RAAF search party found the wreck and the remains of the crew on the east hank of the Kabu River approximately 1,000 yards north east of Ruakana Village, near Cape Dampier, New Britain.
The crew members of A28-27 were:
Wing Commander James Gibson Emerton (250283) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Terence John Gawne (408648) (Navigator Wireless)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/15/180