LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Alan Stanley WAY
Service No: 437634
Born: Sydney NSW, 1 October 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 May 1943
Unit: No. 31 Squadron, Coomalie Creek NT
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 31 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft A19-203), near Coomalie Creek, 6 October 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Adelaide War Cemetery, NT
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Stanley Carver Way and Daisy Edith Way; husband of Winifred Edna Mary Way, of Cootamundra, New South Wales.
Roll of Honour: Cootamundra NSW
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Remembered: Cootamundra War Memorial, Cootamundra NSW
Remembered: Manly ANZAC War Memorial, Manly NSW
The DVA record shows Pilot Officer Way having enlisted from NSW – however, he has a SA service number (437XXX) and is listed on the SA Memorial.
Beaufighter aircraft A19-203 crashed and burned southeast of Coomalie Creek on 6 October 1944, killing crew members Flying Officer Ian James Ingle (415848) (Pilot) and Pilot Officer Alan Stanley Way (437634) (Navigator).
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 22
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