LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Harold James MADDALENA
Service No: 23723
Born: Sydney NSW, 1 June 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 October 1940 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 21 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Moreton-in-Marsh
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 21 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft LN693), Moreton-in-Marsh, 12 October 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Oxford (Botley) Cemetery, Oxfordshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Harold and Edna Agnes Maddalena, of Redbank, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1058 hours on 12 October 1944, Wellington LN693 took off from Morton-in-Marsh briefed for a five hour navigation training exercise. At 1543 hours the aircraft dived into the ground from around 800 feet near the airfield at Moreton-in-Marsh. The six crew members on board were killed.
The crew members of LN693 were:
Sergeant Howard Allport (1803538) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Harold James Maddalena (23723) (Pilot)
Sergeant Reginald Albert Dowling (1805739) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Joseph Edward Peck (187059) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Francis John William Rawlings (1805814) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Desmond Victor White (430423) (Wireless Operator Air)
The Court of Inquiry into the accident stated: “From eye witnesses’ accounts, the aircraft on return from the five hour cross-country, was observed to come down from about 800 feet in an appreciatively steep powered decent, and continued unchecked on the same path until the aircraft hit the ground and exploded.”
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, 166/27/579