LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Ian McGUGAN
Service No: 414720
Born: Brisbane QLD, 31 May 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941
Unit: No. 148 Squadron (RAF), Brindisi, Italy
Died: Air Operations: (No. 148 Squadron Halifax aircraft JN959), Montenegro, 11 February 1944, Aged 27 years
Buried: Belgrade War Cemetery, Serbia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alexander and Florence McGugan; husband of Heather Sackville McGugan, of Peachester, Queensland Australia.
Roll of Honour: Peachester QLD
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Halifax JN959 was detailed on the night of 10/11th February 1944 to carry out a special mission to Albania. The aircraft was reported missing and failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft crashed during the mission on the 11th February 1944, and that seven of the crew were killed and Sergeant Elkes became a Prisoner of War.
The crew members of JN959 were:
Sergeant A H Elkes (1837239) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) PoW
Sergeant Frederick Moses Cyril Henry Harris (1836450) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Bernard Austin Hough (415424) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Edward George Lee (410502) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Percy Garfield Mann (412601) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Ian McGugan (414720) (Pilot)
Sergeant James Palmer (1802051) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Nairne Edwin Plaxton (650538) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Elkes later reported “ The aircraft crashed in Montenegro after colliding with mountains. No bodies were found in the aircraft according to German information but one unidentified body found in the vicinity some days later. I left that locality a month later but nothing more was heard or seen of any other airmen.”
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 A9301, 414720