LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Allan Edward BUCKLEY
Service No: 418054
Born: Kew VIC, 15 January 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 April 1942
Unit: No. 53 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station St Eval
Died: Air Operations: (No. 53 Squadron Liberator aircraft BZ945), Bay of Biscay, 17 April 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harry Wilfred and Edna Doris Buckley, of Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Heidelberg VIC
Remembered: Panel 257, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2152 hours on 16 April 1944 Liberator BZ945 took off from St Eval to carry out a Leigh Light anti-submarine patrol over the Atlantic in the Bay of Biscay area. At 0405 hours on 17 April 1944, the aircraft signalled that it was investigating a possible U Boat. Since then nothing further heard of the aircraft or crew which were presumed lost at sea.
The crew members of BZ945 were:
Flying Officer Lionel Herbert Abbott (126090) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Flying Officer Allan Edward Buckley (418054) (First Navigator)
Flight Lieutenant Frank Mason Burton (45810) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Alfred Derrick Critchlow (150507) (RAFVR) (Pilot, Supernumerary)
Flying Officer Kenneth Kara Edwards (124726) (RAFVR) (Second Navigator)
Flying Officer Elmer James Hagan (124491) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Wilfred Archibald Hallett (R/166246) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Roy Thomas McDennon (R/162262) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Claude Ralston Newell (R/153296) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Ronald Leonard Mark Pierce (1385581) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) Sergeant Laurence Gerald Reilly (1566202) (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, 166/6/501
Bibliography:
Jay, Alwyn, Endurance; Coastal Command Liberator Operations 1941-5, Banner Books, Maryborough QLD, 4650, 1996