What Squadrons were these RAF Aussies in when they died.

[Kyt]

No details yet but a picture of his grave, plus a numer of other RAAF in this cemetery:

The Scottish War Graves Project :: View topic - Dunure Cemetery ***Complete***

[Kyt]

Captured at the fall of Hong Kong, and died as a POW there. Was based at RAF Kai Tak, but not known if he was with any particular unit.

[Kyt]

Halifax LV774 MH-B
51 Squadron Mission to Magdeburg

T/O 20.04 from Snaith. Cause of loss not established. Crashed on the Wehrmacht artillery range at Oldebroek (Gelderland), Holland. All but Sgt Smith killed

F/O J A Price
P/O J Lanaghan
F/Sgt D Entwistle
F/O G B Pronger RCAF
Sgt G J Bucknall
Sgt M S Smith PoW
Sgt J O'Sullivan

[Kyt]

Name: TILL, ERNEST FLEETWOOD STREET
Initials: E F S
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Flying Officer
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force
Age: 34
Date of Death: 20/06/1944
Service No: 157020
Additional information: (Served as TRAVIS). Son of Pte. Alan Gordon Till, Australian Infantry (killed in action at Gallipoli 6th/9th August, 1915) and Mabel Till; husband of Elizabeth Everard Travis, of Formby.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Sec. K. Grave 144.
Cemetery: SOUTHPORT (BIRKDALE) CEMETERY

Interesting story:

HISTORIANS are searching for details of a 1940s airman buried in Birkdale Cemetery.

Curators at Surrey’s Wings Museum want to track down the relatives or next of kin of Ernest Fleetwood Street Till, who served under the name of Pilot Officer EFS Travis.

PO Travis, 34, was killed in a tragic accident in June 1944 at Surrey’s Redhill Aerodrome, after he was hit when the guns of a Spitfire were fired in error.
The museum now plans to post a memorial plaque in his honour at the site and hope to include information about his life in the museum.

PO Travis listed Formby as his home and was also married to a Formby woman named Elizabeth Everard Travis.

If you can help, leave your message below and useful information will be passed to the Wings Museum.

Hunt to trace tragic airman (Look Back)

THE search for news of a Formby airman continues after his identity was queried this week.

Last October, Times Past publicised the quest of Surrey’s Wings Museum to track down the relatives or next of kin of Formby airman Ernest Fleetwood Street Till, in a plan to honour him with a plaque.

Serving under the name of Pilot Officer EFS Travis, he died aged 34 in June 1944 at Surrey’s Redhill Aerodrome when the guns of a Spitfire standing on the airfield were accidentally fired by the pilot. The aerodrome claimed records showed he was the son of Mabel Till and Pte Alan Gordon Till, who was in the Australian Infantry and was killed in action at Gallipoli in 1915, aged 29.
However relatives of Alan Gordon Till have got in touch to tell us that he had no children, and could not be PO Travis’ father. Irene Gordon Till from Dorset spotted the mistake online. She said: “The Alan Gordon Till who was killed in Gallipoli was single and his next of kin was his mother when he died. My father-in-law is Alan Gordon Till’s younger brother and there’s nobody in the family who have ever heard of him having a son.”

However, part of PO Travis’ Formby roots were uncovered by history researcher John Rowlands from Formby in December.

He says the airman, who signed up to the RAF in October 1942, is listed as one of the fallen on Formby’s War Memorial.

After trawling through newspapers from 1944, plus the archives of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, he also uncovered evidence of his life in Southport.

Reports suggest that he worked in Southport’s evacuation office prior to the RAF and was a member of Churchtown Conservative Club and North Meols Tennis Club.

Mr Rowlands also discovered that PO Travis, who is buried in Birkdale Cemetery, achieved the more senior rank of flying control officer.

Records also show that he listed his home as Formby and was also married to a Formby woman named Elizabeth Everard Travis.

If you can help the Wings Museum honour PO Travis, or have any information about his family, let us know at Times Past.

Formby airman’s identity a mystery (Formby Times Past)

20.6.1944 13:00 hours. Pilot Officer E.F.S. Travis (157020) was accidentally killed shortly after noon. He was on duty in the watch office when guns of a Spitfire standing on the airfield were accidentally fired by the pilot.

RAF Redhill

[Kyt]

4 AACU (Anti-aircraft Co-operation Unit) Seletar

POW. Held Java, then Moluccas (Ambon). Died on the Maros Maru, in the terrible conditions.

General details of the ship and POW statements:

COFEPOW - Ships - The Maros Maru

[Kyt]

151 Maintenance Unit

POW Held Java, Singapore, Borneo (Jesselton, Sandakan)

Died on Death March

[Kyt]

RAF Kluang

POW. Held Java, Singapore, Borneo (Jesselton, Sandakan, Kuching)

Died Kuching

[Kyt]

I can't find a unit but he is reported as Died on Active Service which normally means illness or an accident not associated with the air force

Grave photo

Jack William Hathway ( - 1945) - Find A Grave Memorial

[Kyt]

Parker was a Battle of Britain pilot (234 Squadron) who was shotdown on the August 15th 1940 and taken prisoner. He ended up in Colditz

He stayed in the RAF after liberation and was killed in a flying accident whilst based at RAF Milfield (56 OTU) in Tempest EJ859

[Kyt]

Completed:

BISHOP, FREDERICK ALAN Pilot Officer 41821 14/09/1939
EDGAR, ALLAN MATHESON Pilot Officer 41270 26/03/1940
BROWN, JOHN ROLAND Flying Officer 39370 12/05/1940
BURRASTON, JACK CLARENCE Pilot Officer 42379 6/07/1940
MUNDAY, WYNTON SCOTT Flying Officer 40637 17/10/1940
DAWSON, ERIC HENRY Flying Officer 41384 10/11/1940
BALDRY, KENNETH ALDRED Sergeant 741301 12/12/1940
NEVETT, HORACE ARTHUR Pilot Officer 86701 16/02/1941
OLDMAN, LEONARD HENRY Sergeant 931979 9/10/1941
BOWMAN, ALAN MCDONALD (DFC & Bar) Wing Commander 32138 30/11/1941
RIES, WILLIAM EDWARD Pilot Officer 109327 21/01/1942
TONGUE, EDWIN (MM) Flying Officer 116822 14/02/1942
DAVEY, JOHN JAMES Sergeant 400751 21/02/1942
McCLAUGHRY, WILFRED ASHTON (CB) (DSO) (MC) (DFC) (MID 3) Air Vice Marshal 4/01/1943
JACKSON, RONALD CHARLES Leading Aircraftman 992747 28/12/1943
PRICE, JAMES ALFRED Flying Officer 125472 22/01/1944
TILL, ERNEST FLEETWOOD STREET Flying Officer 157020 20/06/1944
TAYLOR, FRANK RICHARD Leading Aircraftman 976583 20/09/1944
CRESSEY, STANLEY WEBB Flying Officer 120083 11/07/1945
SMITH, VERNON HOPETOUN Flying Officer 117114 21/07/1945
HATHWAY, JACK WILLIAM Sergeant 1054471 19/09/1945
PARKER, VINCENT Flight Lieutenant 42356 29/01/1946

Unknown so far:

REYNOLDS, MICHAEL VINCENT Pilot Officer 41617 2/01/1940
WARD, MAURICE Sergeant 641509 28/11/1940
JOSEPH, HAROLD WALTER HARRIS Leading Aircraftman 956834 17/12/1940
EVANS, ANDREW HAROLD SARGENT Sergeant 741895 19/02/1941
COOGAN, JAMES STEPHEN Leading Aircraftman 1252908 7/03/1941
FORBES, IAN SIM Leading Aircraftman 655051 7/07/1941
YOUNG, LEO Aircraftman 2nd Class 1281411 22/11/1941
FALKINER, LEIGH BRERETON SADLEIR Leading Aircraftman 1384158 12/02/1942
PAULSEN, JOHN MCKECHNIE Pilot Officer 109325 5/03/1942
ALLAN, JAMES Sergeant 1251427 3/02/1943
SORENSEN, DERRICK RALPH Flight Sergeant 1313849 7/08/1943
SHETLIFFE, RUSSELL BARTON REMINGTON Flying Officer 100156 2/01/1944
HARDIE, ROSS Warrant Officer 902422 17/05/1944
SHEPPARD, JOHN MCMASTER Flight Lieutenant 101116 15/09/1944
CONWAY, JAMES PATRICK Squadron Leader 31428 26/10/1946