LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Douglas Gordon HOWIE
Service No: 405312
Born: Kingaroy QLD, 25 July 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 March 1941
Unit: No. 458 Squadron, Protville
Died: Air Operations: (No. 458 Squadron Wellington aircraft), near Cape Bon, North Africa, 2 November 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Massicault War Cemetery, Tunisia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick Alexander Howie and Beatrice Marianne Howie, of Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 106, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
The No. 458 Squadron Operations Record Book records “On 2nd November 1943 one of 458 Squadron Wellingtons took off from Sidi Armor at 0236 hours on an anti-sub patrol of a westbound convoy and to then land at Bone. At 1716 hours the starboard engine caught fire. At 1718 hours the Second Pilot who was at the controls with the Captain standing beside him giving instructions, ditched the aircraft 30 miles at 110 degrees from Cape Bon.
The ditching was disastrous as the aircraft immediately broke up and sank. The Captain was knocked unconscious and died from drowning. His body was recovered and supported by Flight Sergeant Ramsay, until the arrival of a boat two minutes after ditching from one of the destroyers escorting the convoy, HMS Blakeney. The Second Pilot who was at the controls is missing.” The four other members of the crew escaped with minor injuries and shock. They were rescued by a whaler from the destroyer at 0740 hours and were landed at Bizerta.
The crew members were:
Warrant Officer H J M Brady (R/117650) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner) Minor injuries
Flight Sergeant Hugh Ferguson Bryson (1315187) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot) Missing
Flying Officer Jack Guthrie (40947) (O310523) (Navigator) Minor injuries, Discharged from the RAAF: 19 October 1945
Flying Officer Douglas Gordon Howie (405312) (Pilot) Killed
Flight Sergeant Frederick John Nelson Morris (400758) (Wireless Air Gunner) Minor injuries, Discharged from the RAAF: 27 March 1945
Flight Sergeant John Robert Ramsay (401395) (Special Equipment (Radar) Operator) Minor injuries, Discharged from the RAAF: 13 May 1946
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, 166/18/217
Bibliography:
Alexander, P. (Peter) We Find and Destroy: history of No. 458 Squadron, The 458 Squadron Council, 1959