LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Robert Hawkins STRACHAN
Service No: 413040
Born: Lawson NSW, 15 July 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 3 Refresher Flying Unit, RAF Station Poona, India
Died: Aircraft Accident (Beaufort aircraft NE650), India, 16 January 1945, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Kirkee War Cemetery, India
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alexander Copeland Strachan and Grace Strachan, of Lane Cove, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 16 January 1945, Beaufighter NE650 took off from Poona and was carrying out a non-operational low flying cross country exercise when it crashed into a lake, near Ashti, 40 miles south east of Alimednagar, India, at 0550 hours. The aircraft was under15 feet of water in the lake and the Pilot’s body was trapped in the plane and the Navigator was slightly injured in the crash. The crew misjudged the surface of the lake and hit the water.
The crew members of NE650 were:
Warrant Officer Robert Hawkins Stachan (413040) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant R G Whiting (1607145) (RAFVR) (Navigator/Wireless) Slightly injured
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, 166/38/881; A705, 32/4/230
Bibliography:
Winter, V.A. (Vincent Adams) (408547) Noble Six Hundred: the story of the Empire Air Training Scheme with special reference to Australians who trained in Southern Rhodesia, V.A. Winter Brighton VIC 3186