LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Francis Edward KEACH
Service No: 408198
Born: Oatlands TAS, 12 July 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 March 1941
Unit: No. 1 Operational Training Unit, RAAF Station East Sale VIC
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1 Operational Training Unit Beaufort aircraft A9-176), East Sale, 29 December 1944, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Sale War Cemetery, VIC
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Henry and Amy Lethbridge Keach; husband of Agnes Mary Keach, of Ross, Tasmania
Roll of Honour: Ross TAS
Remembered: Panel 112, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1500 hours on 29 December 1944, Beaufort A9-176 crashed soon after takeoff on a practice single engine flying training task. On board A9-176 were:
Sergeant (later Flight Sergeant) Dennis Lewis Jones (130816) (Wireless Air Gunner) Slightly injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 5 March 1947
Flying Officer Francis Edward Keach (408198) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer Robert Spencer Roberts (417119) (Pilot)
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 A9845, 246
Bibliography:
Lax, M. (Mark) (editor) Always Ready: a history of RAAF East Sale, RAAF Publications Unit Melbourne VIC, 1993
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990