LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Alan Firth MASON
Service No: 420575
Born: North Sydney NSW, 14 March 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941
Unit: No. 40 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 40 Squadron Wellington aircraft LN513), Italy, 17 February 1944, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Bari War Cemetery, Italy
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harold Firth Mason and Maud Thurza E. Mason, of Lindfield, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Dorrigo NSW
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Dorrigo Monument, Dorrigo NSW
At 0101 hours on 17 February 1944 Wellington LN513 took off from Foggia Main base, Italy, to bomb the shipping at San Stefano. The aircraft which was last plotted 14 miles from base at 0548 hours, height 6, 000 feet, did not return from the mission. It was later established that the aircraft had crashed into a hillside and had burnt out. The aircraft was completely destroyed and all the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of LN513 were:
Sergeant Alfred Bayliss (1239957) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer James Clifton Keighley (134588) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Alan Firth Mason (420575) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Edwin Ernest McGilvery (425536) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant Edward Sydney Sayer (1390342) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/27/359
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line