CRASH OF A VULTEE VENGEANCE
57 MILES EAST OF NAREMBEEN,
55 MILES SOUTH OF SOUTHERN CROSS
IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
ON 27 AUGUST 1944

RAAF Vultee Vengeance A27-295 of 25 Squadron RAAF left RAAF Pearce on a planned training sortie on 27 August 1944. After they became lost in bad weather and the aircraft ran low on fuel, the Pilot, P/O Allan Jack Ingram (413773) and the Navigator W/O Clyde Leonard King (425674) parachuted from the aircraft  somewhere between Corrigin and Burakin. Hundreds of men and dozens of planes then searched for the lost crew. The aircraft crashed 57 miles east of Narembeen, and 55 miles south of Southern Cross in the Burakin area of Western Australia. This is in an area approximately 220kms south west of Kalgoorlie.

Pilot "Jack" Ingram was located approximately 70 miles south of Southern Cross on 31 August 1944.  Warrant Officer King's body was never found. He was eventually pronounced "Presumed Dead". Warrant Officer King remains the only member of 25 Squadron still listed as "Missing in Action".

Many theories surround the disappearance of Warrant Officer King although one of the most believed is that on baling out he hit the tail of the aircraft and was either killed or rendered unconscious and therefore unable to open his parachute. The Court of Inquiry assumed that Warrant Officer King's parachute had not opened.

The aircraft was located at 32° 00' S and 119° 21' E.

On the 27 August 1988, the Shire of Yilgarn erected a memorial cairn at the site of the crash. The year 2008 was the 70th anniversary of No 25 (City of Perth) Squadron's arrival in Western Australia. No 25 (City of Perth) Squadron decided that this would be an appropriate time to rededicate the crash memorial. This rededication took place at the crash site at 1100 hours 16 August 2008. Relatives of both airmen attended the ceremony.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Charles Page, Derek Martin and Craig Collas for their assistance with this home page.

REFERENCE BOOKS

"Vengeance of the Outback - A Wartime Air Mystery of Western Australia"
by Charles Page

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 6 July 2004

This page last updated 03 February 2020