LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Adrian Mervyn LOVELLE-DRAPER
Service No: 413624
Born: East Malvern VIC, 9 January 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 September 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 12 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Chipping Warden, Northamptonshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 12 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft BJ587), Irish Sea, 19 August 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Henry and Ila Louise Lovelle-Draper; husband of Fay Zelda Lovelle-Draper, of Roseville, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 193, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Ku-ring-gai World War II Book of Remembrance, Gordon NSW
Wellington BJ587 of No 12 Operational Training Unit took off from RAF Chipping Warden on the night of 18/19th August 1943 on a non operational “Bullseye” training exercise. The route was from Chipping Warden – Grantham – Londonderry -56.10N, 20.10W – Rothsay – Belfast – Douglas – Honeybourne – Chipping Warden. The aircraft did not return to base after the exercise. The bodies of Sergeant Russell and Sergeant Hogan were later washed ashore and it was recorded in 1949 that the remaining members of the crew had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of BJ587 were:
Flight Sergeant Austin John Hogan (422559) (Second Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Adrian Mervyn Lovelle-Draper (413624) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Davies McDonald (1346452) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant David Russell (415684) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Stanley Walter Wood (1335616) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Frank Elliott Worden (417551) (Bomb Aimer)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/25/61
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line