LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Warwick William RICH
Service No: 427148
Born: Wickepin WA, 10 January 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 May 1942
Unit: No. 310 Ferry Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 310 Ferry Training Unit Halifax aircraft BB377), off Bournemouth, 26 January 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey UK
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Turton Rich and Wilga Edith Rich, of Wickepin, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Wickepin WA
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Halifax BB377 crashed into the sea two minutes after take-off on from RAF Station Hurn, Bournemouth, enroute to the Middle East. Wreckage was strewn along the beach at low tide line and rough seas broke it up completely. The crew members of BB377 were:
Flight Sergeant Frank Edgar Bowering (417451) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Albert Russell Davis (37524) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Kevin Malcolm Ford Graham (415578) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Edward Henry Oliver (1584611) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Warwick William Rich (427148) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Geoffrey Markwell Wood (20772) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/35/213