LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Geoffrey Bruce Hope SANDILANDS
Service No: 421095
Born: Uralla NSW, 10 June 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 December 1941
Unit: No. 30 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Hixon, Staffordshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 30 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft X3357), Staffordshire, 16 October 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Chester (Blacon) Cemetery, Cheshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Bruce and Aline Sandilands, of Uralla, New South Wales, Australia; husband of Dorothy Mary Sandilands, of Victoria. British Columbia, Canada.
Roll of Honour: Uralla NSW
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Flight Lieutenant James Walter Sandilands DFC (402405) and of Sergeant John Douglas Sandilands (402613)
On the 16th October 1944, Wellington X3357 took off from RAF Hixon at 1800 hours for a solo evening navigation detail of approximately 2 hours 40 minutes duration. At 2141 hours, the aircraft transmitted by wireless requesting a course to steer. Nine minutes later, the aircraft collided with trees and a house, and crashed at Ingestre Park on the south west side of the airfield. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of X3357 were:
Flying Officer Percy John Castle (429774) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Wilfred Pearson Heatley (436194) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Ronald Charles Parker (435406) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer Geoffrey Bruce Hope Sandilands (421095) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Phillip Edward Burton Vallender (436015) (Pilot)
A Flying Accident Report later stated : “The Court was of the opinion that the Pilot was circling in low stratus cloud below the safety height of the area where the accident occurred, and the aircraft flew into some trees and a house whilst in a steep turn estimated at 60 degrees when he collided with the trees. The Pilot did not think he had lost control of the aircraft as he had received a QDM one minute before crashing, but this cannot be proved. No blame is attached to any one other than the Pilot, although the meteorological information was wrong as it did not forecast low stratus cloud, and this was a contributory cause for the crash.”
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, 166/37/573