RAAF Fairey Battle L5760
RSL (Port Pirie Sub Branch) Inc.On Sunday 22nd November 1942 at 1630 hours, a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Fairey Battle (L5760) from No. 2 Bombing and Gunnery School was on an afternoon sortie towing a target for a gunnery training mission. Flying at only 300ft, the aircraft entered a turn when it suddenly stalled and dived into the ground about 3.5 miles west of the airfield killing its two aircrew.
Killed were:
Sergeant Stanley Rechner Scholz 416617 - Pilot
Aircraftman 1 Douglas Thomson 80737 - Drogue Operator
The probable cause was “unknown” however it appears that the aircraft was involved in another incident 12 months earlier.
On the 5th November 1941 approximately 14 miles northwest of Port Pirie Aerodrome the same aircraft which was piloted by Sergeant Gilbert Francis Daw made of forced landing with “obscure” being the probable cause.
Tragically, on the 3rd November 1942 Flying Officer Gilbert Francis Daw 406348 and Flight Sergeant Leonard Breen 3293 were killed in a Flying Accident when their CA-5 Wirraway (A20-109) crashed at Dee Why Beach in Sydney, NSW.
Sergeant Stanley Rechner Scholz and Douglas Thomson were buried in the Commonwealth War Graves section of the Port Pirie Cemetery with full military honours.
- National Archives of Australia https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6950…