LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Ernest John LOWATER
Service No: 402464
Born: Sydney NSW, 21 July 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 August 1940
Unit: No. 51 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 51 Squadron Whitley aircraft Z6731), Suffolk, 19 August 1941, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Honington (All Saints) Churchyard, Suffolk
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick Morton Lowater and Louisa Jane Lowater, of Balgowlah, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2129 hours on the night of 18 August 1941Whitley Z6731 took off from Dishforth detailed to bomb Cologne, Germany. On the return journey and due to fire in the wireless compartment, Z6731 crashed at 0315 hours on the B1116 road north of Crouches farm at Layfield, 11 miles north west of Leiston, Suffolk. All the crew members were killed in the crash. Four of the Squadron’s aircraft (including Z6731) were lost on this mission.
The crew members of Z6731 were:
Sergeant Richard Edward Bennett (968187) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant John Leonard Gilman (989975) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Wellington James Loney (J/3706) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Ernest John Lowater (402464) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Taylor (998674) (RAFVR) (Wireless 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, 163/139/63