Transcript
We lost a few pilots that crashed. I think there were six altogether the whole time I was with them. They lost about six pilots.
When I was in Bankstown where we formed, Flight Lieutenant Hill, he was in charge of the squadron. He'd just been made leader of the squadron and he took over the squadron duty and on Christmas Day they went out on target practice together and they collided in mid-air, Flight Lieutenant Hill and another fella.
I forget his name now but he's buried at Rookwood cemetery. They collided in mid-air and Flight Lieutenant Hill went into an orchard and the plane drove right into the ground about a quarter of the way in. Lost his life and the other fella got caught in the trees. He tried to jump out and he got caught and he got killed too.
That was a sad time for 82 Squadron. We were just about to go to Darwin and the advance party that happened and me, being a truck driver with a license' I had to take them out to see what had happened and it was very sad, very sad. He was a lovely bloke and we lost him.
