| Name | Ronald Stanley THORNTON |
| Birth | 23 Apr 1925, Richmond, Vic Age: 80 |
| Father | Frederick Kay THORNTON (1888-1948) |
| Mother | Elizabeth Hannah DOBNEY (1888-1952) |
| 1 | Gwendolyn Isabel WEIR |
Service Royal Australian Air Force
Service Number 128932
Date of Birth 23 Apr 1925
Place of Birth RICHMOND, VIC
Date of Enlistment 27 Apr 1943
Locality on Enlistment KEW
Place of Enlistment MELBOURNE, VIC
Next of Kin THORNTON, FREDERICK
Date of Discharge 10 Jan 1947
Rank Leading Aircraftman - Coppersmith
Posting at Discharge LAVERTON TRANSIT DEPARTURE & RECEPTION SECTION
No1 Recruitment Depot (Laverton) 27/04/43
NO. 2 OPERATIONAL TRAINING UNIT MILDURA, VIC 4/06/43
1 STT Exhibition Technical School - Fitzroy (Coppersmith) 25/09/43
1 OPERATIONAL TRAINING UNIT E. Sale 30/12/43
On 20 April 1943, the 130 aircraft and 2,411 personnel of 1 OTU started to move to its new home at East Sale. 110 tenders made 535 trips along the Princes Highway, covering 50,000 miles over a three day period. At this time 1 OTU had 25 Hudson's, 55 Beaufort's, 35 Oxfords, 14 Fairey Battles and 1 Tiger Moth.
5 Aircraft Depot RAAF (5AD) Forest Hill, Wagga Wagga 28/02/44
At Forest Hill No 2 Service Flying Training School trainee pilots continued to train to 'wings' standard on twin-engined Avro Ansons and single-engined Wirraways.
Married Gwendolyn Isabel WEIR from Forest Hill, Wagga Wagga 24 July 1944
2 Personal Dispatch Pre-embankment Bradfield. Park 15/03/45
3 RESERVE PERSONNEL POOL
Embarked for Morotai Island on the 13th July 1945 from Brisbane
Click picture for virtual tour web site 
16 Aircraft Repair Depot 21/07/45
9 Repair Salvage Unit 8/08/45.
Japan Surrenders 9th Sep1945
24 SQUADRON - RAAF posted 16/10/45
On 12 December 1941 there were 12 Wirraways of 24 Squadron based in Townsville according to a Table on page 67 of "Australian Air Force since 1911" by N.M. Parnell & C.A. Lynch. They were later transferred to Rabaul on 21 December 1941.
The squadron, comprising only 10 Wirraways, reformed in Townsville on 5 February 1942 under the command of Wing Commander J.R. Perrin.
The squadron moved from Aitkenvale air field to Ross River airfield on 6 June 1942.
On 7 June 1942, two Wirraways (A20-490 and A20-493) of 24 Squadron collided in mid air over Woodstock killing Flight Sergeant Observer Maxwell Kemp Russell who was buried at the Townsville War Cemetery. 3 other crew members parachuted to safety. A memorial was erected at the Thuringowa RSL in August 1995 in memory of Maxwell Kemp Russell.
Wirraway A20-84 of 24 Squadron RAAF crashed and burnt out on Mount Louisa on 26 June 1942. The 2 crew, Gledhill and Gould were buried at the Townsville War Cemetery.
24 Squadron RAAF was based at Manbullo airfield in the Northern Territory near Katherine from June to September 1944
Disembarked at Townsville 22 Nov 1945
2 Personal Dispatch 30/11/45