LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Victor Norman BALLARD
Service No: 414289
Born: Townsville QLD, 17 July 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 August 1941
Unit: No. 16 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 16 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft X3991), France, 24 March 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Pontgouin Communal Cemetery, Eure-et-Loire, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Edwin and Mary Grace Ballard; husband of Doris Lydia Ballard, of Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Townsville QLD
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2005 hours on the night of 23 March 1943 Wellington X3991 took off from RAF Upper Heyford detailed to carry out an advanced training flight and drop leaflets (Nickels) over the Orleans region. Apart from the normal frequency check on take-off, nothing was heard from the aircraft and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at Pontgouin (Eure-et-Loire) some 25kms west north west of Chartres, France. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of X3991 were:
Flying Officer Victor Norman Ballard (414289) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Albert Raymond Dicker (134077) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer George Brian Gibson (135412) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Joseph Edwin Jones (1294775) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Henry Richard Kinder (1670066) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Peter William Masters (135294) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
The crew consisted of trainees of No 38 Course and the Mid Upper Gunners of No 2 MUG Course.
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, 166/5/83