LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Musgrave McINNES
Service No: Unavailable
Born: Melbourne VIC, 16 July 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 January 1936
Unit: No. 1 Flying Training School, RAAF Station Point Cook VIC
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1 Flying Training School Anson aircraft N4887), near RAAF Station Richmond NSW, 18 December 1939, Aged 21 Years
Cremated: Rookwood Crematorium, Sydney NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Beckwith McInnes and Violet Muriel McInnes, of Alphington, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Alphington VIC
Remembered: Panel 5, NSW Cremation Memorial
Remembered: Panel 116, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Flight McInnes was an Air Cadet in the Permanent Air Force and served with the Seaplane Squadron at Rathmines.
At about 0119 hours on 18 December 1939, Anson N4887 took off and soon after ground crew heard a loud roar then the sound of a crash. The ground crew members ran to the area of the sounds and found the aircraft had disintegrated on impact. One engine had been driven deep into the earth. The crew members of N4887 had all been killed with remains and debris scattered over a wide area.
The crew members of N4887 were:
Flight Lieutenant Henry Parker Fitzgerald
Flight Lieutenant Hugh Vaughan Horner
Leading Aircraftman Leonard John King (3891)
Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Musgrave McInnes
Flight Lieutenant Arthur Moorehouse Watkins (Pilot and Aircraft Captain)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/26/1242; A9845, 67