User:Evad37/Avro Anson Memorial

The Avro Anson Memorial, also known as the RAAF Anson Aircraft Memorial, Air Disaster Memorial, or Mokine Memorial, commemorates four Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) airmen killed when their Avro Anson aircraft crashed near Clackline, Western Australia on 9 October 1942.

Background
On 9 October 1942, an Avro Anso aircraft (No. W2262 ), piloted by Sergeant Geoffrey Debenham and carrying Flying Officer Lynton Birt, Sergeant Noel Nixon, and Sergeant Kenneth Hugo, crashed near Clackline, Western Australia. The airmen, all from the 68 Reserve Squadron based at Geraldton, were on a training mission, flying from Cunderdin to Pearce air force base. Partway along what should have been a routine flight, the aircraft crashed and burned, leaving no survivors, and destroying the aircraft.

Crew
K. C. (Les) Hugo was born in Perth, and attended school at Armadale. He went on to study at the Perth Technical College, and then worked in the Vacuum Oil Company's Perth Office. According to his father, he was a "lover of sport", enjoying cricket, football, swimming and yachting. Hugo enlisted in the air force in 1941, where he was a wireless operator air-gunner. He was 21 at the time of the crash.

L.V.H. (Linton) Birt originated from Subiaco, Western Australia. He attended Hale School from 1931 to 1933, where he played cricket and football, and was "above average" academically. Following his schooling, he worked for the English, Scottish and Australian bank, and continued to play sports, as a wing for the Old Haleians hockey club. At the outbreak of World War II, Birt enlisted in the RAAF, where he eventually became a navigator. He was 25 at the time of the crash.

N. L. Nixon was the son of Mr. L. W. Nixon of Bundaberg, Queensland; and G. L. Debenham was the son of Mr. P. Debenham of Kempsey, New South Wales. Nixon was 28 and Debenham was 25 years old at the time of the crash.

Crash
The Avro Anson crashed soon after 1:00 pm, on private property leased by Mr O. E. Harvey, west of Mokine. Mrs Harvey saw the plane coming in close to the ground, which looked like it was going to hit her house. It actually passed over the building, and beyond nearby trees, before crashing approximately 3/4 mi from the homestead. There was a large explosion and rising columns of smoke from that point. Mrs Harvey hurried over to the crashed aircraft, but was unable to give any assistance as the wreckage was burning fiercely, and machine gun ammunition was continually going off. The crash was loud enough to be heard across several miles, and attracted close to fifty people within half and hour. The plane had crashed approximately 100 yd past a tree into rising ground, inro which it dug 20 yd trenches and two large holes, exposing boulders from below the surface. The wreckage ended up in front of a large tree close to a rock outcrop, while the crew had been flung out of the plane, and the rudder was found 20 yd out in the branches of another tree.

Aftermath
Within an hour, the Avro Anson had become nothing more than a smouldering pile of material and metal. An RAAF ambulance transported the crew's bodies to the Northam morgue, while two days later the Air Force Inquiry Board inspected the scene, and their salvage unit removed the wreckage.

Birt's remains were interred in the Northam Cemetery's Anglican section on 11 October 1942, while Hugo's remains were interred at Perth's Karrakatta Cemetery. Debenham and Nixon were buried at Karrakatta Cemetery on 14 October 1942, following a service at St George's Cathedral at 9.30 am, conducted by the Dean of Perth, Rev R. H. Moore.

Memorial
The memorial is constructed of granite and boulders gathered nearby, and formed into a cairn measuring approximately 2.5 by at the base, 1.5 m high and 1.5 by at the top. It is surmounted by a wooden cross approximately 1.4 m high. The cross is of West Australian jarrah and was made by an Australian Army Works Unit in nearby Spencers Brook. The names of the four deceased airmen and other details are carved into the cross.

The completed memorial was dedicated and consecrated on 12 December 1942, at a ceremony conducted by Senior Chaplain Lieut.-Colonel Elvey. Afterwards, wreaths were laid by relatives, members of the armed forces, and children from the nearby Clackline School, while the RAAF and Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC) provided a guard of honour.

Ravages of time and the effects of an earthquake at Meckering had taken their toll and in early 1984 a small band of volunteers (all of World War 2 vintage) set about the task of restoration. This work involved the rebuilding in part of the stone cairn, refurbishing and painting of the cross, the erection of a low steel post and chain fence around the memorial and the provision of a bronze plaque. The wording on the plaque reads: ""This monument was erected by members of the Bakers Hill/Clackline Volunteer Defence Corps and other local citizens and dedicated on 13th December 1942, to mark the site where RAAF Anson Aircraft No W2262 crashed on 9th October 1942, killing all four crew members. The City of Perth Branch of the Royal Australian Air Force Association carried out restoration of the monument, and it was rededicated on 25th November 1984 by Bishop Denis Bryant, DFC 'PER ARDUA AD ASTRA' ""