LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Hermann Heinrich Julius ROHRLACH
Service No: 402755
Born: Koperamamma SA, 14 November 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 14 October 1940 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 21 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Moreton-in-Marsh
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 21 Operational training Unit Wellington aircraft Z1161), Lincolnshire, 8 May 1942, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Thurlby (St Germain) Churchyard, Lincolnshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Alfred and Bertha Emilie Rohrlach; husband of Lillian Pearl Rohrlach, of Enfield, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Murray Bridge SA
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the 7 May 1942, Wellington Z1161 took off from Moreton-in-Marsh for a night cross-country training exercise. The aircraft was partially abandoned due to a fire in the port engine, before crashing at about 0330 hours, into a tree near Beckingham, eleven miles north north west of Grantham, Lincolnshire.
The crew members of Z1161 were:
Sergeant P W S Brooke (RAF) (Second Pilot) Injured
Sergeant Ian McNaughton Fergusson (1550846) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Isaac Hart (1312986) (RAFVR) (Pilot) Baled out, Injured, Killed on Air Operations: 2 June 1942 (No. 106 Squadron (RAF))
Sergeant Hermann Heinrich Julius Rohrlach (402755) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Lawrence Joseph Tighe (R/61115) (RCAF) (Observer) Baled out, Uninjured, Killed on Air Operations: 30 September 1942 (No. 149 Squadron (RAF))
Sergeant Willoughby Lloyd Williams (401263) (Wireless Air Gunner)
The aircraft took with the Second Pilot at the controls at 2250 hours on the 7 May 1944. At 0330 hours the following morning the port engine failed and flames appeared at the gills. The Captain ordered Sergeant Fergusson the Rear Gunner to prepare to abandon the aircraft and pressed the fire extinguisher. The aircraft was flying at a height of 1,300 feet and commenced to lose height. The port airscrew then fell off and when the aircraft was at 670 feet the Captain ordered bale out. Two members of the crew did so the Captain and Sergeant Tighe. The Second Pilot remained at the controls and apparently attempted to make a forced landing, but the aircraft hit a tree and crashed. Rohrlach and Williams had not baled out and were killed in the crash.
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, 163/158/276