Studio portrait of 418054 Aicraftman (later Flying Officer (FO)) Allan Edward Buckley RAAF. ...

P08703.001
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Accession Number P08703.001
Collection type Photograph
Object type Colour - Toned black & white print
Maker Broothorn Studios
Place made Australia: Victoria, Melbourne
Date made c April 1942
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Studio portrait of 418054 Aicraftman (later Flying Officer (FO)) Allan Edward Buckley RAAF. Buckley, of Melbourne, Vic, was a student in engineering prior to enlisting on 25 April 1942 attached to 53 Squadron RAF. He was killed on operations over the Bay of Biscay on 17 April 1944, aged 22. FO Buckley has no known grave and is commemorated at the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, England. He was a member of a crew whose last operation ended in the outer Biscay Bay area (46o 21' N, 11o 48' W) when at 3.49am on 17 April 1944, their Liberator BZ945 began its final approach to attack surfaced German U-boat, U993. Advance-alerted via Naxos radar, U-boat captain Oberleutnant Kurt Hilbig ordered his crew to open fire with U-boat's 4x22mm machine guns and 37mm automatic cannon. The combined tracer/HE/incendiary ammunition set BZ945 on fire and, out of control it dived into the sea, its depth charges exploding, none surviving. Also lost that night was 53 Squadron's Liberator BZ800, similarly shot down as it approached surfaced U-boat, U546. Again all crew members lost, including two Australians.

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