CRASH OF A P-43B REPUBLIC LANCER
AT GORDON'S GULLY,
NEAR HEALESVILLE, VIC
ON 29 APRIL 1943

RAAF P-43B Republic Lancer, A56-7, of 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit 1PRU crashed in thick forest on the side of Gordon Gully near Healesville in Victoria on 29 April 1943. The pilot was P/O Alan William Green (406393) of Western Australia. The Lancer crashed on a flight between Forrest Hill near Wagga and Laverton. At the time when the aircraft was due to arrive at Laverton, the noise of an aircraft flying low in banks of cloud was heard at Dindi sawmill in the Healesville area.

The aircraft was not found until June 1958 and his remains were recovered on 10 June 1958 and transported to Karrakatta War Cemetery, Western Australia for his burial at public expense. He was buried there on 20 June 1958 in Grave No. QD3. The newspaper article on the discovery of the crashed aircraft was in the Melbourne Sun on 11 June 1958 . (Has anyone got a copy of the article?)

The crash site was subsequently rediscovered by bushwalkers in the early 1970s. 

Geoffrey Negus provided the following information:-

406393 Plt Off Alan William Green, RAAF, SHQ Laverton, age 25, died 29.4.43 is buried at Perth War Cemetery & Annex. Son of Ernest George and Mary Emily Green, of Harvey. (Sources: Australian War Memorial and Commonwealth War Graves Commission.) I know his initials aren't D as in your report, but it seems too much of a coincidence.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Greg O'Connell, Rick Hanning, Keith Richmond, Geoffrey Negus and Carl Smoot for their assistance with this home page.

Can anyone help me with more information on this crash?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 26 December 2001

This page last updated 25 October 2026