LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Alexander Roy MacPHERSON
Service No: 402529
Born: Gundagai NSW, 6 December 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 September 1940
Unit: No. 30 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 30 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft A19-202), Celebes, 6 December 1944, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Ambon War Cemetery, Indonesia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ewen Alexander and Mary Isobel Macpherson; husband of Betty Laura Macpherson, of Gore, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Narrandera NSW
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Narrandera World War Two Memorial, Narrandera NSW
On 6 December 1944, Beaufighter A19-202 was one of two aircraft detailed to carry out a water craft sweep in the Celebes from Cape Bintan to Manado. The aircraft took off from the Wama airstrip, Morotai, at 0605 hours. About six minutes before ETA at Cape Bintan, Flight Lieutenant MacPherson saw motor transport on a road. The Pilot of the accompanying aircraft in A19-161 saw A19-202 dive sharply and fire its cannon, but he looked away for a second to turn on his reflector sight, and when he looked back he saw A19-202 crash in a hillside which was fairly heavily wooded. The aircraft crashed about 14 miles east of Cape Bintan in position 00.51N 120.43E. A19-161 circled the area but could see no sign of any survivors. In 1946 the remains of the missing crew members were recovered.
The crew members of A19-202 were:
Flight Lieutenant Alexander Roy MacPherson (402529) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Norman Robert Stanton (435250) (Navigator Wireless)
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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/26/688; A9845, 22
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line