LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Aaron Patrick UNDERWOOD
Service No: 437027
Born: Unley SA, 9 February 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1942
Unit: No. 695 Squadron (RAF), RAF Bircham Newton, Norfolk
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 695 Squadron Martinet aircraft NR610), Norfolk, 20 May 1945, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Nelson Stamford Underwood and Phyllis Rose Underwood, of Mannum, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Mannum SA
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
On 20 May 1945, Martinet NR610 took off at 1520 hours, detailed to carry out an Army anti-aircraft co-operation day exercise. The aircraft crashed at 1700 hours at Burnham Market, Norfolk, and the two crew members were killed.
The crew members of NR610 were:
Sergeant Robert Arthur Adams (502101) (RAF) (Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer Aaron Patrick Underwood (437027) (Pilot)
A Flying Accident report later stated: “It appears that during a return flight from an authorised anti-aircraft cooperation exercise, the target broke away. It appears from the evidence that this fact having been brought to the notice of the Pilot, he made a circuit presumably to ascertain the position of the drogue. Almost immediately after and for no known reason, the aircraft went on to its back and either spun or spiraled straight down into the ground, burst into flame and was completely destroyed. The weather was not a cause, visibility was good, and the cloud base was higher than 1500 feet.
The CO Of the Squadron stated: “Presumably after the drogue became adrift, the Pilot circled it to see where it would fall. During this process it seems that the Pilot allowed the aircraft to stall. The resulting “flick over” could appear to an eye witness as if the aircraft had turned on its back.”
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/41/31