Bio / Text:
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Baker was a carpenter in the rural New South Wales town of Murwillumbah situated on the northern NSW coast. He enlisted in Dec 1940 as an aircrew trainee at No.2 Recruiting Centre in Sydney, NSW and was sent to No.2 Initial Training School . In March 1941 he was posted to No.5 Elementary Flying Training School at RAAF Base Narromine in the NSW plains district. After completing training at 5EFTS he was promoted to Sergeant and posted to No.2 Embarkation Depot in Sydney to await shipment to Canada, where he underwent training at No.2 Service Flying Training School at RCAF Station Uplands, Ontario. He completed his pilots course and was commissioned into the RAAF as a Pilot Officer and awarded his flying badge on 01Sep41, he then reported to No.17 Depot in Halifax where he embarked for the UK.
In the UK he was posted to No.53 OTU where he trained on Spitfires before being posted in Dec 1941 to No.452 Sqn RAAF at RAF Station Redhill in Surrey. Examination of the 452 Sqn Unit History Sheets show that PLTOFF Baker did not fly any combat missions and was completing his pre-combat training. On the fateful day Baker was tasked to carry out an air-to-sea cannon test firing off the Sussex coast. For some reason the aircraft entered a low altitude spin and Baker could not recover before his Spitfire AB195 crashed into the sea approximately 3/4 of a mile SW of Beachy Head, The crash was witnessed by P-40 Tomahawk pilot PLTOFF McQuoid of 414Sqn and Naval staff at the nearby Naval Signal Station, Beachy Head.
RAAF pilot 403159 Pilot Officer Allenby Leslie Baker (21) of Murwillumbah, NSW Australia has no known grave. He is commemorated on Panel 111 of the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey. He is also commemorated on Panel 105 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
