LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer George Frank DAVEY
Service No: 406470
Born: Perth WA, 6 May 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941
Unit: No. 221 Squadron (RAF), Luqa, Malta
Died: Air Operations: (No. 221 Squadron Wellington aircraft HX626), off Sicily, 27 February 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Catania War Cemetery, Sicily, Italy
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Raymond Frank and Gladys Amy Evelyn Davey, of Albany, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Albany WA
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Wellington HX626 of 221 Squadron took off from RAF Luqa, Malta, at 1955 hours local time on 27 February 1943 on an enemy shipping search patrol between Marsala and Palermo. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. The bodies of Flying Officer Davey and Sergeant McArdle were recovered from the sea and are interred in the British Military Cemetery, Catania. In 1947 it was recorded that the remaining missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of HX 626 were:
Flying Officer Dundonald Nelson Cochrane (67680) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flying Officer George Frank Davey (406470) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Arthur Alexander Dey (416001) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant George Wilson Dempster (777732) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Carl Elwood Jamieson (R/64923) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Clifford Austin McArdle (J/18756) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator 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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9300, DAVEY G F
Bibliography:
Gaston, Bruce DFC (406646), Harry Horner DFC OAM (406595), Raymond Storer (406666) (Editors), Aircrew for the Duration: of and by members of RAAF EATS Courses 10, 11, 12 & 13, Gaston Horner and Storer, Nedlands WA, 1990