LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Derek George STEWART
Service No: 418578
Born: Sydney NSW, 3 June 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 May 1942 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 178 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 178 Squadron Liberator aircraft KH243), Yugoslavia, 5 November 1944, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Belgrade War Cemetery, Serbia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George and Lillian Elizabeth Stewart; husband of Flora Mavis Stewart, of Ascot Vale, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2127 hours on the night of 5 November 1944 Liberator KH243 took off detailed to drop supples to Partisans in Northern Yugoslavia in position 46.19.30 N 014.51.00E. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team later reported “the aircraft crashed at Lokovica on 5 November 1944 presumably as a result of enemy action. Lokovica is 15 miles north west of Calje, Northern Yugoslavia.” All the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of KH243 were:
Sergeant Stanley Athorn (2202890) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant William Greig Bogie (1370143) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Stanley Richard Davie (1803355) (RAFVR) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Francis William Louch (549446) (RAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Ivor Matthews (529628) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Gerard Joseph O’Kane (1597880) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer Derek George Stewart (418578) (Pilot)
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, 166/38/716