LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Edwin Alfred BAILEY
Service No: 405145
Born: Brisbane QLD, 17 April 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 February 1941
Unit: No. 1443 Ferry Training Flight (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1443 Ferry Training Flight Wellington aircraft HF907), Irish Sea, 5 June 1942, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred Charles and Edith May Bailey, of Greenslopes, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 112, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 5 June 1942 Wellington HF907 took off from base on a non-operational six hour consumption test flight. This involved a cross country flight from Base to Bardsey Island, Lynas Point, Rhyl and return to base. The aircraft was last heard of in the vicinity of the Isle of Man. Two bodies were recovered from the sea in Cheshire and one in the Isle of Man while the remaining four crew members were recorded as having lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of HF907 were:
Sergeant James William Ashby (778663) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Edwin Alfred Bailey (405145) (Observer)
Sergeant James William Bingham Cockburn (1161773) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Leslie James Grove (657264) (RAF) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant William Hurley (1310344) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Norman Victor Lloyd (1126348) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Leading Aircraftman Ronald Douglas Jeffery MacDonald (R/94992) (RCAF) (Testing ASV (Radar) Equipment)
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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/90/301