LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Alan Ellis BRIAN
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 39930 (RAF)
Born: Bowraville NSW, 1911
Enlisted in the RAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 70 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 70 Squadron Wellington aircraft T2731), Albania, 7 November 1940, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Sidney Harold and Elizabeth Emily Brian; husband of Sylvia Gwendoline Brian
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Column 239, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
On 7 November 1940, Wellington T2731 took off from Eleusis, Greece, to attack Valona (Vlore), Albania, and was shot down by Italian CR42 fighter aircraft.
The crew members of T2731 were:
Flight Lieutenant Alan Ellis Brian (39930) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Wilfred Ellam (539774) (RAF) (Wireless Operator)
Sergeant W J Mitchell (755914) (RAFVR) PoW
Pilot Officer Gilbert Robert Rawlings (79574) (RAFVR) PoW
Sergeant Joseph Axford Selley (631166) (RAF)
Sergeant George Shafto Wilson (565830) (RAF)
References:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Gunby D (David) and Pelham Temple, Royal Air Force Bomber Losses in the Middle East and Mediterranean, Volume 1 1939-1942, Midland Publishing UK, 2006
Newton, Dennis First Impact, Banner Books, Maryborough QLD 4650, 1997
NSW Register of Births On Line