LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Thomas George MOLONEY
Service No: 400626
Born: Melbourne VIC, 16 September 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 September 1940
Unit: Ferry Flight (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (Ferry Flight Wellington aircraft Z3101), off Gibraltar, 9 January 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Cornelius and Daisy Marie Moloney, of Deepdene, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 110, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Fifteen minutes after take-off from Gibraltar on 9 January 1942, Wellington Z9101 crashed into the sea somewhere off Europa Point at 2326 hours. The aircraft sank very quickly and all the crew members except Sergeant Harrison were trapped in the front portion of the aircraft and were killed instantly. The aircraft was on a ferry flight from RAF Station Portreath to Malta via Gibraltar.
Sergeant Harrison got clear from the fuselage, surfaced and was picked up by a patrol launch HMS Westcott. Flying Officer Patterson’s remains were recovered from the sea and the apparent cause of his death was a bullet wound received in action. Sergeant Atherton’s body was also recovered from the sea by HMS Westcott and he was buried at sea.
The crew members of Z9101 were:
Sergeant William Samuel Charles Atherton (404322) (Observer)
Sergeant Keith Herbert Jack Harrison (408018) (Rear Gunner) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 30 September 1946
Sergeant Edward Gordon Travers Hall (1182276) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Thomas George Moloney (400626) (Pilot)
Sergeant Alun Morris (1160218) (RAFVR) (Front Gunner)
Flying Officer John McGregor Maughan Patterson (400630) (Second Pilot)
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, 164/45/133
Bibliography:
Ilbery, P.L.T. (Peter Leslie Thomas) (422957) Hatching an Air Force: 2SFTS, 5SFTS, 1BFTS Uranquinty and Wagga Wagga, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 2002