LEST WE FORGET
Group Captain James Allardyce MITCHELL
Service No: 260227
Born: 29 September 1909, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 1 Tactical Air Force, Morotai
Died: Aircraft Accident (68th Troop Carrier Squadron USAAF C46 aircraft), off the Philippines Coast, 17 May 1945, Aged 35 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James and Martha Agnes Mitchell; husband of Sylvia Mary Mitchell, of Bellevue Hill, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 32, Labuan Memorial, Malaysia
Remembered: Panel 97, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At about 0700 hours on 17 May 1945, a C46 aircraft of the 68thTroop Carrier Squadron USAAF departed from Tanauan for Morotai. The aircraft failed to arrive at its destination. At about 1030 hours on the same day, a US ship in a convoy was attracted to the scene of an aircraft crash by another aircraft circling overhead. At the time the weather was bad, with low cloud, many squall lines and low visibility in rain. Wreckage from the C46 aircraft was found and two bodies were recovered, but the remainder of those on board are missing. The recorded position of the crash was 08.55N 126.45E off the coast of Mindanao.
On board the C46 aircraft were:
Sergeant E E Caldwell (USAAF) (Engineer)
Staff Sergeant J O Gerdeva (USAAF) (Passenger)
Second Lieutenant H G Jacebsen (USAAF) (Pilot)
Master Sergeant W H MacKenzie (USAAF) (Passenger)
Group Captain James Allardyce Mitchell (260227) (Pilot) (No. 1 TAF Morotai) (Passenger) Remains possibly recovered
Second Lieutenant C A Smith (USAAF) (Co-Pilot) Remains possibly recovered
Private First Class W Townsend (USAAF) (Passenger)
Staff Sergeant C R Whitmore (USAAF) (Radio Operator)
The Commonwealth War Graves record that Group Captain Mitchell has no known grave and that his name is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial. The Casualty File A705 166/27/927 records that one of the two bodies recovered from the crash area, was subsequently identified as that of Group Captain Mitchell, but the file does not record where he was buried.
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, 166/27/927