LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Neville Thomas STUBBS
Service No: 423350
Born: Leichardt NSW, 14 January 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 June 1942
Unit: No. 31 Squadron
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 31 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft A19-117), near Peron Island NT, 4 December 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ernest Percival and Vera Hillian Stubbs, of Mosman, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 7, Northern Territory Memorial, Adelaide River NT
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: St Clements World War II Roll of Honour, Mosman NSW
At about 1200 hours on 4 December 1943, Beaufighters A19-117 and A19-163 took off from Coomalie on a training exercise, including air combat formation flying and gunnery on a sea marker. At 1240 hours, when the aircraft were over the sea, the leading aircraft A19-163 became the target aircraft for air combat, flying at a height of 150 feet. The Pilot of A19-117 had made about seven passes at the target aircraft, when the aircraft was seen by the Observer of A19-163 to break off to port in a nose down turn and crash into the sea, about one mile south of Peron Island off Anson Bay. A19-163 flew over the spot about 4 times but no trace of the crew was seen. A Walrus aircraft later searched the area without result.
The crew members of A9-117 were:
Leading Aircraftman Horace Stanley Coghlan (59741) (Flight Rigger, Supernumerary)
Flying Officer Neville Thomas Stubbs (423350) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Malcolm John Taylor (418772) (Navigator)
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, 166/38/356; A9845, 17
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed, Terry Hills NSW, 1980
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990