LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Jack Elliott PARKES
Service No: 415090
Born: Wickham NSW, 16 October 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 June 1941 (at Perth WA)
Unit: No. 12 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Chipping Warden, Northamptonshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 12 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft BK160), North West Europe, 19 February 1943, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Husband of G. O. Parkes, of Mount Lawley, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 197, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Wellington BK160 of No 12 Operational Training Unit was detailed to drop pamphlets in the Orleans area, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after it took off at 1907 hours on 19 February 1943 from RAF Chipping Warden and it did not return to base. Following post war investigations and enquiries it was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew had no known grave.
The crew members BK160 were:
Sergeant Kenneth William Keen (1384067) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Alfred Henry Martin (405260) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Jack Elliott Parkes (415090) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Alfred Raymond Shepherd (130261) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Alfred Raymond York (1318051) (RAFVR)
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 A705, 166/32/36