LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer James Alfred LEAVER
Service No: 412455
Born: Hurstville NSW, 29 June 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 July 1941
Unit: No. 158 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Lissett
Died: Air Operations: (No. 158 Squadron Halifax aircraft LV946), France, 18 April 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Grand-Seraucourt British Cemetery, Aisne, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred Ernest and Florence Margaret Leaver, of Yenda, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Yenda NSW
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Griffith Cenotaph, Griffith NSW
At 2059 hours on the night of 18 April 1944 Halifax LV946 took off from Lissett detailed to bomb railway yards at Tergnier. France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. LV946 collided in the air with No 51 Squadron (RAF) Halifax aircraft LM522 and both aircraft crashed at Seraucourt-Le-Grand (Aisne), 11 kms south west of St Quentin. The crews in both aircraft were killed and they lie beside each other in Grand-Seraucourt British Cemetery, France.
The crew members of LV946 were:
Sergeant Owen McDavid Brown (1822937) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant James Heyes (547937) (RAF) (Mid Gunner)
Flying Officer William Adrian Hughes (J/14859) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer James Alfred Leaver (412455) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Frank Salmond (657616) (RAF) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Ronald Stakes (132016) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Bertram Alfonso Trewin (J/25701) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
The crew members of LM522 were:
Sergeant Charles Christie (1049057) (RAFVR)
Sergeant William James Gilchrist (1824389) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Desmond William Kennedy (1620864) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Philip Latchford (1038622) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Colin Shackleton (1398483) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Fred Taylor (1549593) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Eric Oscar Downing Yorke (1439296) (RAFVR)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 5 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1944, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1997
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record NAA A705, 163/137/241
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line