LEST WE FORGET

Sergeant Vyvyan Roessler PASCOE

Service No: 404671
Born: Toowoomba QLD, 18 January 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1940
Unit: No. 22 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 22 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft AD625), Stratford-on-Avon, 25 May 1942, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Stratford-upon-Avon Cemetery, Warwickshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Vyvyan Edmondson Pascoe and Lilian Alma Pascoe, husband of Gladys Pascoe, of Graceville, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

While waiting for clearance to take off from the Stratford-upon-Avon Satellite airfield on 25 May 1942, Wellington AD625 was struck by Wellington DV480 and totally destroyed at 0240 hours. Five crew members were killed and two were injured in AD625 while four crew members were killed and one injured in DV480.

The crew members of AD625 were:

Sergeant Douglass Callaghan (412313) (RNZAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer J J Gale (45149) (RAF) (Pilot) Injured
Sergeant James Eric Hough (994140) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer J Morris (J/8794) (RCAF) (Air Gunner) Injured
Sergeant Vyvyan Roessler Pascoe (404671) (Pilot)
Sergeant Mervyn Wilkinson (405532) (RNZAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Syddall Williams (404977) (RNZAF) (Observer)

The crew members of DV480 were:

Flight Sergeant Robert Douglas Cook (R/62860) (RCAF)
Flight Sergeant John Llewellyn Gibby (812346) (RAF (Auxiliary Air Force))
Sergeant Ronald Ernest Herbert (411721) (RNZAF)
Sergeant Noyes (RAF) Injured
Sergeant Charles Robert Whitworth (1202832) (RAFVR) (Pilot)

The Squadron Leader of No. 22 OTU Training Wing reported: “Wellington AD625 was waiting at a taxying post prior to receiving permission to cross the flare path in order to taxy to dispersal. Aircraft DV480 made a bad approach and swung into the waiting aircraft. No blame is attached to the Pilot of the waiting aircraft AD625, as he was at least 200 yards away from the runway in use for night flying.” In his remarks on the accident, the Group Captain No. 22 OTU stated: “The accident appears to have occurred solely through an error of judgement on the part of Sergeant Whitworth, captain of DV840, in that his approach took him some 30 degrees across the flare path and overshooting.”

References:

Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 7 Operational Training Units 1940-1947, Midland Counties Publications UK, 2002
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/149/195

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