LEST WE FORGET

Pilot Officer Brian Ernest LONG

Service No: 403888
Born: St Kilda VIC, 17 May 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 March 1941 (at Perth WA)
Unit: No. 13 Squadron, Hughes NT
Died: Air Operations: (No. 13 Squadron Hudson aircraft A16-132), Timor, 17 June 1942, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ernest George and Isabel Long
Roll of Honour: Cottesloe WA
Remembered: Panel 7, Northern Territory Memorial, Adelaide River NT
Remembered: Panel 100, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

The DVA record shows Pilot Officer Long enlisting from WA; however he has a Victorian Service Number (403XXX) and is not listed on the WA State Memorial. He was a member of No. 13 EATS Course who trained in WA and his parents resided in Peppermint Grove WA from where his mother died in 1925 and his father in 1941.

On 17 June 1942 Hudson A16-132 was shot down in an attack on shipping at Tenau near Koepang. Two Hudsons searched unsuccessfully that day and the next for survivors.

The crewmembers of A16-132 were:

Pilot Officer Colin Vivian Cantor (411861) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Gordon Robert Crawford (403802) (Observer)
Sergeant Laurence Rex Hayward (411908) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Brian Ernest Long (403888) (Pilot)
Sergeant Maurice McGuire (401137) (Second 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 A705, 163/43/71

Bibliography:

Gaston, Bruce DFC (406646), Harry Horner DFC OAM (406595), Raymond Storer (406666) (Editors), Aircrew for the Duration: of and by members of RAAF EATS Courses 10, 11, 12 & 13, Gaston Horner and Storer, Nedlands WA, 1990
Grantham, S. R. (Sidney Richard) (6590) The 13 Squadron Story, S.R. Grantham, Dee Why NSW 2099, 1991
Vincent, D. (David) The RAAF Hudson Story Book 1, D. Vincent Highbury SA 5089, 1989
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Anson, Hudson and Sunderland in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1992

Book Now Book Now