LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Kenneth Maxwell SHEPLEY
Service No: 407458
Born: Kadina SA, 20 October 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 October 1940
Unit: No. 7 Squadron, Townsville, QLD
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 7 Squadron Beaufort aircraft A9-458), off Cairns QLD, 15 January 1944, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leslie Herbert Hamilton Shepley and Susan Shepley, of Toorak Gardens, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 5, Sydney Memorial, Rookwood NSW
Remembered: Panel 99, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
In the late afternoon of 15 January 1944, Beaufort A9-458 crashed into the sea at 16.23S 146.21E (off Cairns, Queensland) and immediately sank. Two crew members escaped and were rescued by a passing ship, and two crew members were lost. The crew members of A9-458 were:
Flight Lieutenant (later Squadron Leader) John Edward Dures (260794) (Pilot) Slightly injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 19 November 1945
Pilot Officer Herman Patrick Hoppe (419180) (Navigator)
Flying Officer (later Flight Lieutenant) Arthur Joseph Prentice (411257) (Wireless Air Gunner) Slightly injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 17 October 1944
Flying Officer Kenneth Maxwell Shepley (407458) (Wireless Air Gunner)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
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, 166/37/296
Bibliography:
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990