LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Ernest Keele CHIVERS
Service No: 275328
Born: Perth WA, 20 February 1911
Enlisted in the RAAF: 4 July 1940 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 57 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station East Kirkby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 57 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED707), Netherlands, 23 May 1943, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Texel (Den Burg) Cemetery, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick Emanuel and Rose Jessie Chivers; husband of Yvonne Gwenevere Chivers, of Hurlstone Park, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2240 hours on the night of 22 May 1943 Lancaster ED707 took off from East Kirkby detailed to bomb Dortmund, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 0247 hours in the Waddenzee between Den Helder and the Isle of Texel. All the crew members lost their lives.
The crew members of ED707 were:
Sergeant Thomas Richard Bayles (1002401) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant William Henry Bestwick (1473247) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Ernest Keele Chivers (275328) (Pilot)
Sergeant Ivor Armstrong Jervis (1237319) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Philip Parkin (1434589) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant William Barrymore Rawnsley (1601751) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant David Arthur Robb (656009) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
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, 166/7/110