LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Lloyd Morrish LOFTUS
Service No: 409419
Born: Caulfield VIC, 20 April 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 5 Service Flying Training School, Uranquinty NSW
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 5 Service Flying Training School Wirraway aircraft A20-208), Belfraydon NSW, 26 March 1945, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Wagga Wagga War Cemetery, NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Claude Huddart Loftus and Pearl Jessmine Loftus; husband of Reba Ernestine Loftus, of Caulfield, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Caulfield VIC
Remembered: Panel 116, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0906 hours on 26 March 1945, Wirraway A20-208 crashed at the gunnery range at Belfraydon during a gunnery training flight, and the crew of two was killed. The accident was considered to be in disobedience of orders followed by poor technique, causing a stall from a steep climbing turn, which was commenced at twenty feet after completion of the gunnery detail.
The crew members of A20-208 were:
Warrant Officer Lloyd Morrish Loftus (409414) (Pilot under instruction)
Warrant Officer John David Tamlyn (409613) (Instructor Pilot)
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, 166/25/288