LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Henry Theodore SKILLMAN
Service No: 625
Born: Bondi NSW, 8 May 1910
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 January 1940 (at Essendon VIC)
Unit: No. 1 Air Navigation School, Parkes NSW
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1 Air Navigation School Anson aircraft A4-5), Lapstone NSW, 28 January 1941, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Cremated
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Henry and Ruby Alice Skillman; husband of Constance Skillman, of South Yarra, Victoria.
Roll of Honour: Adelaide SA
Remembered: Panel 5, New South Wales Crematorium Memorial Rookwood NSW
Remembered: Panel 116, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Avro Anson A4-5 crashed at Lapstone, NSW at about 1700 hours while on a medical evacuation flight from Parkes to Mascot on 28 January 1941. The plaque placed near the accident site reads “On 28 Jan 41 an Avro Anson aircraft, No A4-5 of No1 Air Navigation School, RAAF Parkes, crashed in this area whilst en route from Parkes to Mascot on a Medical Evacuation flight. All five airmen were killed.” Those five airmen were:
Pilot Officer John Ignatius Newman (819) (Pilot)
Squadron Leader James Manning Rainbow (Medical Officer)
Flying Officer Bailey Middlebrook Sawyer (1704) (Patient)
Flying Officer Henry Theodore Skillman (625) (Navigator)
Aircraftman Class 1 Charles Richard Tysoe (5922) (Wireless Operator)
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 A9845, 74
Bibliography:
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Anson, Hudson and Sunderland in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1992