Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Warrant Officer Clyde Leonard King 425674 (Navigator) was killed when Vultee Vengeance A27-295 of 25SQN experienced engine problems and crashed in the Burakin area, WA

Both crewmen parachuted from the aircraft - Pilot Officer Allan Jack Ingram 413773 (Pilot) survived and served until 1946 - but the body of Warrant Officer King was never found and he is commemorated on Panel 5 of the Sydney Memorial

Clyde Leonard King was the son of Thomas and Harriet May King. He was born in Queensland in 1921. Clyde worked for the P.M.G. before he enlisted. He made no attempt to avoid military service because of his P.M.G.  occupation.

Instead he applied for RAAF Aircrew. It was not until after Japan entered the war that he was enlisted. He likely aspired to be an RAAF Pilot. However RAAF likely wanted to utilize his P.M.G. Technical skills. 

He trained initially as a Wireless Operator / Air Gunner. Clyde was subsequenly re-mustered as an RAAF Navigator / Observer. He also had basic training as a Bombardier. It looks like he was destined for RAF Bomber Command. However, the Air War was now in Australia's backyard.  Clyde had to specialize in dive bombing. He served in No 25 Sqn in an RAAF Vultee Vengeance Dive Bomber.  He was the Rear Gunner / Observer. His task was to cover the rear during a dive bombing attack. Hence, he faced backwards. This cockpit configuration would have made navigation somewhat challenging.   

RAAF Vultee Vengeance (A27-295) had departed from RAAF Base Pearce on 27 August 1944 but it had failed to return. A27-295 was on an operational training sortie when bad weather affected visual navigation.

A27-295 was unable to fix its position and fuel was running very low. Radio D.F. had range limitations. 

The Pilot was unable to make a forced landing because of the terrain. He gave W/O Clyde King a 15 minute warning that if no suitable open space was found in that time, that they would have to jump. Then when fuel was exhausted, the Pilot ordered Clyde to jump.

However he received no intercom acknowledgement from Clyde.

The Pilot had converted reduced airspeed to height. He jumped ninety seconds after failing to get a reply from Clyde. It would have been too late to jump after that time. For aircraft altitude would be too low for him to safely parachute. The Pilot had assumed that Clyde had jumped when the engine stopped running due to fuel exhaustion. For Clyde had been briefed to jump.

He would known that there was nowhere in that area to execute a forced landing. However, he jumped without a direct order. That sometimes happens when a RAAF aircraft is in peril and comms have been lost.

Why Clyde jumped before he was ordered to do so is a mystery.

The RAAF Search and Rescue plan was activated to search for survivors. It was a large scale operation because Western Command H.Q. decided to use this incident to coordinate Air and Ground Forces and direct them on a common war-time task.  It was in effect Operational Training to Test and Evaluate the Effectiveness of RAAF, Army, Police and civilian assets to be simultaneously directed.

The object was to  effeciently execute a coordinated complex search that involved RAAF, Army plus Police resources and civilian volunteers under war time conditions. 

RAAF Beauford Bombers from No 14 Sqn and RAAF Vultee Vengeances from No 25 Sqn flew S.A.R. sorties. RAAF DH82 Tiger Moths from RAAF Base Cunderdin flew low level S.A.R. sorties as did the RAAF Anson and RAAF Dragons. W.A. Airlines was the first to report what appeared to be a tent in the remote search area.

The W.A. Airline overflew that area on routine flights on from Norseman to Narrogin. An RAAF Beaufort Bomber did a low pass over the 32' 08" S 119' 18" E  pin pointed location to confirm that it was in fact an RAAF Parachute.

The Narembeen Police Station was directed to search the area 50 miles to their East. The parachute was recovered. Then native trackers found and followed footprints south west to the rabbit proof fence. The Pilot had walked nine miles before locating a farm house. Police were contacted and RAAF notified. An RAAF Dragon was able to land near the farmhouse and extract the Pilot. P/O Allen "Jack" Ingram, the RAAF Vultee Veageance Pilot was taken to RAAF Base Pearce to be debriefed and hospitalized. He had been surviving in the bush for the past four days. His survival training had helped him to survive thanks to a unfortunate goanna.           

A27-295 Vultee Vengeance wreckage was found by an RAAF DH82 Tiger Moth on 2nd Setember 1944. Six days after the crash. The DH82 could fly low and slow. Hence was rechecking previous areas searched by air.

The wreckage was stewn over several acres in thick scrub with the engine buried ten feet below the earth.

Soldiers from the 15th Battalion VDC reached the site on foot according to the Shire of Yilgarn Museum. The wreck was located at 32' 00" S and 119' 21" E. This was in an uninhabited area of Western Australia. 57 miles E from Narembeen and 55 miles S from Southern Cross. Located about 30 miles S from where my mother lived in Marvel Loch.  She was Twelve at the time and  has vivid memories of RAAF Aircraft overflying her Marvel Loch Primary School during the search. Her dad was in the RAAF. He had served in No 25 Sqn. Hence mum took a keen interest in the outcome of the RAAF  search.

More than two hundred soldiers and civilians preformed the ground search for W/O Clyde King RAAF. Horses were used where Trucks could not go. Then Bren Gun Carriers from Northam Army Camp augmented local VDC Soldiers tasked for the ground search. Soldiers from the 1st Australian Amoured Brigade based at Northam provided manpower and armoured resources. Bren Gun Carriers were used because Trucks could not operate in the scrub due to tyre damage. 

The RAAF concluded that the failure to find Clyde's parachute was due to the fact that it did not open. Hence, he fell to his death. It was considered probable that his head hit the tail plane when he bailed out. Hence he was either killed at that point or rendered unconscious. Either way, he was unable to pull the rip cord. 

Western Command HQ Terminated the extensive search on 7th September 1944. The footnote expressed hope that one day a wandering bushman or perhaps a prospector might stumble across human remains. The case was then closed. Lest We Forget. 

The shear scale of the search was seen as a valuable training excercise by all parties. RAAF, Police, Army plus civilians. RAAF aircraft logged 780 hours in total.

There was a second post war search organised by W/O Clyde King RAAF's father. Mr Thomas Orpen King from Brisbane. He commissioned the local Bruce Rock Blacksmith, an experienced bushmen to help.

Ex-CPL Max Holtfreter 15 Bn VDC conducted a second search with Mr Thomas King. Max knew that area well and was in the ground party which literally hacked its way through to the crash site.

Max would have helped Mr King come to terms with his tragic loss after traversing that rugged terrain. 

RAAF Search for the A27-295 Airmen NAA File is cited.