LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Wilfred Ernest ALLISON
Service No: 415750
Born: Victoria Park WA, 9 March 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 February 1942
Unit: No. 3 Advanced (Pilot) Flying Unit (RAF), RAF Halfpenny Green (Bobbington), Staffordshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 3 Advanced Flying Training Unit Airspeed Oxford aircraft LW751), England, 27 September 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Bath (Haycombe) Cemetery UK
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Richard Eric and Edith Christelle Allison, of Victoria Park, Western Australia
Roll of Honour: Victoria Park WA
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
On 27 September 1943, Oxford LW751 took off detailed to carry out solo night circuits and landings practice lasting 1 hour 20 minutes. On its 3rd take-off that night, the aircraft gained about 50 feet over the flare path then appeared to gain little or no more height, but passed close to a water tower. The aircraft then swung 30 degrees and lost height rapidly striking a tree with the port wing tip. The aircraft then hit the ground and disintegrated and the Pilot was killed. An Inquiry into the accident found that it was due to “mishandling of controls after take off due to the Pilot’s comparative inexperience.”
References:
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, 166/3/117