LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Ernest Middleton BUCKBY
Service No: 426524
Born: Redcliffe QLD, 26 May 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1942
Unit: No. 1661 Conversion Unit (RAF), RAF Station Winthorpe
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1661 Conversion Unit Lancaster aircraft W4929), Wales, 5 September 1943, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Hereford Cemetery, Herefordshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Percy Milton Buckby and Minnie Elizabeth Buckby, of Camp Hill, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Roma QLD
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 5 September 1943, Lancaster W4929 took off from RAF Winthorpe, for a night cross country training exercise. The aircraft flew into a heavy storm, over the Brecon Beacons, and crashed at 2320 hours near Trecastle, a village on the main road between Llandovery and Brecon. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of W4929 were:
Flight Sergeant Ernest Middleton Buckby (426524) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Graham Curran (1821749) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Norman Thomas Duxbury (157252) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Victor Roy Folkersen (J/22796) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant Leslie Holding (1672421) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Thomas Frederick Edward Johnson DFM (145822) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Frank William Pratt (1271556) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Roy Wilson (1492741) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/6/268