LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Gordon Noel SHIPWAY
Service No: 421132
Born: Lismore NSW, 12 December 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 December 1941
Unit: No. 71 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 71 Operational Training Unit Hurricane aircraft Z4863), Egypt, 4 November 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Moascar War Cemetery, Egypt
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick John and Laura Beatrice May Shipway, of Lismore, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Lismore NSW
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Lismore Cenotaph, Lismore NSW
At 0925 hours on 4 November 1943, Hurricane Z4863 was on a non-operational day training flight and crashed approximately 8 miles north of Ismailia, Egypt, and the pilot was killed. Z4863 collided in mid-air with the aircraft (Hurricane V6757) of another dog fighting pair which had been seeking cover in cloud. Z4863 went into a spin and the aircraft struck the ground and burst into flames. The collision occurred between the starboard main plane of Z4863, and the port main plane of the second aircraft V6757. The fuselage of Z4863 (Shipway) was then cut in two just aft of the cockpit, the rear portion and tail unit of the aircraft being found half a mile from the main burnt out wreckage.
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, 166/37/234
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line