Edwin Joseph Furlong – Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 31 Squadron

Flight Sergeant Edwin Joseph Furlong – Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 31 Squadron

Early Life and Family Background

Edwin Joseph Furlong was born in 1920 in Swansea, the only child of Thomas Furlong and Mary Jane Furlong. His early years were spent in the close‑knit streets of central Swansea, where his family lived and worked during the inter‑war years.

The Family in the 1921 Census

1921 Census

The 1921 Census records the Furlong family residing at 14 Chapel Street, Swansea. Thomas, aged thirty‑five, was employed as a Drapery Warehouse Man with Edward Ltd., Oxford Street, one of the city’s well‑known commercial establishments. His wife Mary Jane, aged thirty, undertook household duties, while their infant son Edwin Joseph, then just seven months old, was recorded as the couple’s only child. Also present in the household was Mary, aged fifty‑six, likely a relative providing support within the home. The census captures the family at the very beginning of Edwin’s life.

Service with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Edwin enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, training as a pilot and attaining the rank of Flight Sergeant. He was posted to No. 31 Squadron, a long‑established RAF unit operating in the India–Burma theatre. By 1945, the squadron was flying Douglas Dakota IV transport aircraft, undertaking vital supply, evacuation, and communication flights across some of the most challenging terrain of the war. Operating from Ramree Island, Burma, the squadron supported Allied forces advancing through the region during the final stages of the Burma campaign.

Douglas Dakota IV

Final Flight: 8 June 1945

On 8 June 1945, Flight Sergeant Furlong was piloting a Dakota IV returning to base after completing a resupply mission to Toungoo, a key airfield recently secured by Allied forces. The return route crossed an area notorious for rapidly changing weather, low cloud, and poor visibility — conditions that frequently forced aircraft to fly at reduced altitude to remain beneath the cloud base. As the Dakota approached the region near Luang Chaung, close to Myonybin, the aircraft encountered deteriorating visibility and dense low cloud. Contemporary RAF accident summaries indicate that, while attempting to maintain visual contact with the terrain, the aircraft struck rising ground concealed by cloud and crashed in the jungle below.

The accident was recorded as a controlled flight into terrain, a type of loss tragically common in the India–Burma theatre, where crews often flew long hours over unfamiliar country with minimal navigational aids and in severe monsoon conditions. Recovery efforts were hampered by the remoteness of the crash site and the continuing bad weather. Although the war in Europe had ended a month earlier, operations in Burma remained demanding and dangerous, and transport crews such as those of 31 Squadron continued to fly daily in hazardous conditions to sustain the final Allied advance.

Edwin Joseph Furlong 
Taukkyan War Cemetery, Myanmar credit - findagrave

Burial and Commemoration

Flight Sergeant Edwin Joseph Furlong was laid to rest at Taukkyan War Cemetery, Myanmar, where his grave stands among those of the many Commonwealth airmen who served and died in the Burma campaign. His name is preserved in the quiet dignity of this cemetery, far from his Swansea home, in honour of his service and sacrifice.