LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant John Alexander GILPIN
Service No: 408837
Born: Ballarat VIC, 8 November 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 June 1941
Unit: No. 150 Squadron (RAF), Blida, Algeria
Died: Aircraft Accident: (No. 150 Squadron Wellington aircraft DF568), Algeria, 27 January 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Dely Ibrahim War Cemetery, Algeria
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alan Vint Gilpin and Elsie May Gilpin, of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1545 hours on 27 January 1943 Wellington DF568 flown by Sergeant Gilpin crashed in an aircraft accident several miles east of the Blida aerodrome, Algiers. The aircraft went into a dive from 5,000 feet and struck the ground at an angle of 60 degrees as the pilot was pulling out of the dive. All on board were killed.
The crew members of DF568 were:
Sergeant Milton Howitt Barnett (411240) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Leonard Bill (1212297) (RAFVR)
Leading Aircraftman Robert Hardie Bryson (1345544) (RAFVR)
Sergeant John Gibson (1345888) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant John Alexander Gilpin (408837) (Pilot)
Leading Aircraftman George Henry Ironmonger (957108) (RAFVR)
Aircraftman Class I Dennis Mann (1250113) (RAFVR)
Leading Aircraftman William Melville (1344238) (RAFVR)
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, 166/15/13