LEST WE FORGET

Pilot Officer William Walter EVANS

Service No: 403426
Born: Hamilton NSW, 28 April 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January n1941
Unit: No. 94 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 94 Squadron Hurricane aircraft RV351), Libya, 1 August 1943, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Benghazi War Cemetery, Libya
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Grant Evans and Annetta Madeline Evans, of Hamilton, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Hamilton NSW
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 1800 hours on 1 August 1943 Hurricane RVG351 crashed 3 miles south east of Savoia aerodrome when on a day non-operational air test, and Pilot Officer Evans was killed. RV351 had just completed a 40 hour inspection during which a new control column spade grip and bottom bracket and also an elevator connecting rod and trimming tab control wheel were removed. According to the radio log at No. 16 SOR the pilot had no elevator control and had abandoned the aircraft at too low an altitude. The parachute had streamed but not opened sufficiently to check the pilot’s fall.

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, 166/13/32

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