Portrait of (414614) Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Stjernqvist Buchanan DFC

Malcolm Stjernqvist Buchanan was born at Gympie, Queensland on 28 December 1912. Buchanan enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 8 November 1941 and undertook his basic training in Australia, at Sandgate, Lowood, Temora and Mallala. He transferred to England in mid-December 1942, where he converted to the Handley Page Halifax, and was assigned to 78 Squadron.

He was awarded the DFC after an action on the night of 18/19 July 1944, when he was part of a force of 62 aircraft (51 Halifaxes, 9 Mosquitos and 2 Lancasters) which attacked a flying bomb launch site at Acquet in France. After this action Buchanan was admitted to hospital with first and second degree burns. He returned to 78 Squadron after recovering. On the night of 21 November 1944, piloting Halifax MZ 810, and returning from an operation against a synthetic oil refinery at Sterkrade on the Rhine in Germany, Flight Lieutenant Buchanan was lining up to land when his aircraft hit trees and crashed in the centre of the wood at Spaldington. The entire crew was killed. Malcolm Stjernqvist Buchanan is buried at Stonefell Cemetery at Harrogate, Yorkshire.

Handwritten note on the reverse of this image reads, "To Mum and Dad from Malcolm S. Taken 22nd September 1944. With best wishes for a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year."