LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Allen Howard WILSON
Service No: 421550
Born: Tungamah VIC, 24 January 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 February 1942 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 101 Squadron (RAF), RAF Ludford Magna, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 101 Squadron Lancaster aircraft DV290), Berkshire, 31 March 1944, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Oxford (Botley) Cemetery, Oxfordshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Sydney Howard Wilson and Rachel Allen Wilson; husband of Ena Alice Wilson, of West Wyalong, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: West Wyalong NSW
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster DV290 took off from RAF Ludford Magna at 2205 hours on the night of 30 March 1944, detailed to carry out specialist ABC duties (Airborne Cigar – electronic jamming of German night fighter radar) in support of a sortie on Nuremburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at 0503 hours on 31 March near RAF Welford, Newbury, Berkshire, which at the time was being used by Dakotas of 435th Troop Carrier Group, USAAF, and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of DV290 were:
Sergeant Donald Addy (1684394) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Dennis Roland Billson (1818136) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Richard Alfred James Collier (1894963) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Irvin Robert McNay (R/167091) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Warrant Officer Class II Alan Norman Rice (R/156762) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Edwin Robert Thomas (527414) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Ernest Hugo Traeger (417604) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Allen Howard Wilson (421550) (Wireless Air Gunner) (Special Equipment Operator)
Bibliography:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/43/587