LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant James William MUDIE
Service No: 421608
Born: Lidcombe NSW, 9 January 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 February 1942
Unit: No. 5 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 5 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit Master aircraft W9073), Staffordshire, 11 August 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Chester (Blacon) Cemetery, Cheshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harold Lindsay Mudie and Lilly Ruth Mudie, of Lidcome, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Lidcombe NSW
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On a navigation exercise on 11 August 1943, Master W9073 collided with No. 30 Operational Training Unit Wellington HE390 and both aircraft crashed. HE390 was carrying out practice circuits and landings. On the downward end leg of the second circuit the aircraft HE390 passed through a patch of low cloud, with a base of about 800 feet. Very shortly after HE390 emerged from the cloud, W9073 appeared from cloud flying in the opposite direction. The aircraft collided starboard wing to starboard wing, and both aircraft crashed at 0740 hours, and all on board were killed. W9073 crashed in the Vicarage Farm, Field Ranton, Staffordshire.
The crew members of W9073 were:
Flight Sergeant Charles Albert Simmons (657534) (RAF) (First Pilot)
Sergeant James William Mudie (421608) (Second Pilot)
The crew members of HE390 were:
Sergeant Eric William Capel Bryant (1384167) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Spencer George Cochrane (1575884) (RAFVR) (Pilot under instruction)
Flight Lieutenant Leonard Walter Metcalfe DFC (68145) (RAFVR) (Screened Instructor Pilot)
Sergeant Frank Powis (1547055) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Colin Yates (1439441) (RAFVR)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 7 Operational Training Units 1940-1947, Midland Counties Publications UK, 2002
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/28/124