LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Archie Campbell THOMPSON
Service No: 400400
Born: Birchip VIC, 22 September 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 August 1940
Unit: No. 31 Squadron
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 31 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft A19-143) Pell Airfield NT, 21 July 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Adelaide River War Cemetery NT
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Archibald and Margaret Alice Thompson; husband of Joan Thompson, of Melbourne, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Toorak VIC
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 21 July 1944, Flight Lieutenant Thompson was killed when BeaufighterA19-143 crashed on take-off from Pell Airfield after the starboard engine failed.
The crew members of A19-143 were:
Flight Sergeant Ian Hickson (424412) (Supernumerary) Seriously injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 17 January 1946
Flying Officer David Bryan Frith Strachan (401862) (Navigator) Slightly injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 14 December 1945
Flight Lieutenant Archie Campbell Thompson (400400) (Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9300, THOMPSON A C; A9845, 19
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