Leslie Lancedene (Dene) Henstridge was born 4 September 1912 in Snowtown, South Australia to Francis Leslie and Amy Gertrude (Atkin) Henstridge.

He enlisted in Adelaide South Australia and gave his mother Amy as his next of kin.  His father, a newspaper proprietor, was a returned soldier of the First World War.  Leslie had one sibling, Hector David born 13 October 1910. 

Leslie Henstridge was killed in Cairns Harbour on the 13 April 1943 in an aircraft accident when returning from operations against the enemy. Also killed were Flight Lieutenant Arnold Hinchliffe – pilot/captain, Sergeant Lenard Carr Airman pilot, Sergeant James Vernon Stothard Lahey navigator,  Corporal Harold McGillivray fitter, LAC Malcolm Frederick Merrett fitter. Three survived, Sergeant George Geffrey Suckling WOAG – seriously injured, Corporal Lawrence Edwin Webber – fitter 11A – slightly injured, Leading Aircraftman Murray Lochart Byham – Amourer – seriously injured.

The Court of Enquiry found that the cause of the accident was due to the fact that the petrol was exhausted and with the engines cutting out at a low altitude, as they did during slight rain, the pilot was unable to make a successful forced landing.

RAAF PBY-5 Catalina, A24-36 ( USN 08190) of 11 Squadron RAAF, crashed into Cairns harbour on return from a night-time search patrol.  They had flown for 23 hours 23 minutes and ran out fuel.  The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.