LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Ernest James LEVER
Service No: 418285
Born: Parkville VIC, 6 June 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 May 1942
Unit: No. 19 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Kinloss
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 19 Operational Training Unit Whitley aircraft LA836), North Sea, 7 February 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick Charles and Irene Victoria Lever, of Parkville, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 261, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2014 hours on 6 February 1944 Whitley LA836 took off from Kinloss on a night non-operational training flight. The route was from Base – Stirling – Goole – 55.20N 02.00W – Inverurie – Base. Contact was maintained with the aircraft until 0143 hours on 7 February.
Information was then received from the Coast Guard in the vicinity of Lossiemouth that an aircraft had come down in the sea. They had heard aircraft engines then saw a flash and heard an explosion. They reported the position as 3 miles offshore on a bearing of 085deg from Lossiemouth. As LA836 was due in the vicinity at about that time and did not return to base, it seemed certain that the aircraft was LA836. Searches on the following day revealed no trace of the missing aircraft or crew. In 1949 it was recorded that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of LA836 were:
Sergeant Douglas Arthur Brooks (1320768) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Alderton Brown (1487397) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant John Edwin Harling (1623143) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Flight Sergeant Ernest James Lever (418285) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Alan Russel Saunders (1896162) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Raymond Craig Woods (R/96024) (RCAF) (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, 166/24/379