LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Maxwell Sydney BEYER
Service No: 410589
Born: Brighton VIC, 7 July 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 30 January 1942
Unit: No. 1678 Conversion Unit (RAF), RAF Station Foulsham
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1678 Conversion Unit Lancaster aircraft DS653), Dorset, 25 November 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Bath (Haycombe) Cemetery, Somerset
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Sydney Ludovic and Florence Martha Beyer, of Princes Hill, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brunswick VIC
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 25 November 1943, Lancaster DS653 took off from RAF Foulsham for a high level cross-country flight. At 1149 hours the aircraft exploded in mid-air, casting debris over a wide area around the community of Sturminster Newton, 8 miles south west of Shaftsbury, Dorset. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of DS653 were:
Sergeant Jack Alexander Batterham (414382) (Pilot)
Sergeant George Alfred Bennett (1388734) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Maxwell Sydney Beyer (410589) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Owen Albert Burton (422256) (RNZAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Robert Ernest Harris (1384334) (RAFVR) (Wireless air Gunner)
Warrant Officer II Ernest Gerald Johnston (R/149773) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant Leslie Slater (1626592) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
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, 166/5/349