LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Antony Innes STUART
Service No: 403383
Born: London, England, 15 February 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 141 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 141 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft X7751), Cornwall, 26 April 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Helston Cemetery, Cornwall
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Geoffrey B. J. Stuart and Evelyn Cicely Stuart, of Woy Woy, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 26th April 1943, Flight Lieutenant Stuart was detailed to carry out a daytime flight test of Beaufighter X7751 for operations that night. The aircraft took off from RAF Station Predannack and crashed at 1435 hours on the aerodrome. Both the crew members were killed.
The crew members of X7751 were:
Pilot Officer Thomas Benson Blackburn DFM (39197) (RNZAF) (Navigator Radio)
Flight Lieutenant Antony Innes Stuart (403383) (Pilot)
In a subsequent Report of a Flying Accident, the Engineer Officer of No. 141 Squadron stated “I witnessed the accident and proceeded immediately to the wreckage. The aircraft struck the corner of the dispersal pen with the port wing tip, then proceeded for 150 yards, struck the ground and the wreckage was dispersed over a wide area. Damage due to fire made it impossible to carry out any further examination.”
The Wing Commander Commanding Officer of No. 141 Squadron stated “The accident occurred at the aerodrome in daylight. The Pilot deliberately disobeyed an order in beating up the aerodrome and striking a building close to one of the dispersals, causing the aircraft to turn on its back and crash on the aerodrome. The Pilot had been warned personally by me two days before the accident and threatened with Court Martial procedures, but he apparently took advantage of my absence and the fact that he was Acting ‘A’ Flight Commander.”
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, 163/38/125