Keith Eric William NOBLE

NOBLE, Keith Eric William

Service Numbers: 424052, N232863
Enlisted: 13 May 1941
Last Rank: Flying Officer
Last Unit: No. 31 Squadron (RAAF)
Born: Kogarah, New South Wales, Australia, 24 November 1920
Home Town: Manly, Manly Vale, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Not yet discovered
Died: Accidental (Flying Accident), Kakadu Region, Northern Territory. Australia, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, 24 September 1944, aged 23 years
Cemetery: Not yet discovered
Memorials: Adelaide River Northern Territory Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Manly War Memorial NSW
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World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Flying Officer, 424052
13 May 1941: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, N232863, 17 Infantry Battalion AMF
21 Jul 1942: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, No. 31 Squadron (RAAF)
21 Jul 1942: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 424052

Help us honour Keith Eric William Noble's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by David Barlow

Son of Eric William and Minnie Ellen Noble of Epping, NSW

 

RAAF Beaufighter aircraft A19-192 & A19-208 of Number 31 Squadron were returning from escort duty over the Arafura Sea when they became lost over the Northern Territory at approximately 2000 hours.

The crew of A19-208 were never found with the crashed aircraft located near Goodparla / Kalpalga Station in the Kakadu region over 12 months later.   

The crew of A19-192 bailed out and the aircraft crashed near Bracks Creek but the pilot was never found.  The navigator was located the next day: Warrant Officer George Robert Warner 418028 survived the war and was discharged from the RAAF in 1946

The incident is the subject of a book in the RAAF Heritage series - “Lost Without Trace: Squadron Leader Wilbur Wackett (A Story of Bravery and Tragedy in the Pacific War)”

Commemorated on the Northern Territory Memorial to the Missing located at Adelaide River War Cemetery, NT are:

Flying Officer Lloyd Francis Ritchie 426287 Pilot of Beaufighter A19-192

Squadron Leader Wilbur Lawrence Wackett 588 Pilot of Beaufighter A19-208 and his Navigator Flying Officer Keith Eric William Noble 424052

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