LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant David RUSSELL
Service No: 415684
Born: Wishaw Scotland, 13 May 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 December 1941 (at Perth WA)
Unit: No. 12 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Chipping Warden, Northamptonshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 12 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft BJ587), Irish Sea, 19 August 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Chester (Blacon) Cemetery, Cheshire UK
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Lawrence Jackson Russell and Marion Graham Russell of Cottesloe, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Cottesloe WA
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Wellington BJ587 of No 12 Operational Training Unit took off from RAF Chipping Warden on the night of 18/19th August 1943 on a non operational “Bullseye” training exercise. The route was from Chipping Warden – Grantham – Londonderry -56.10N, 20.10W – Rothsay – Belfast – Douglas – Honeybourne – Chipping Warden. The aircraft did not return to base after the exercise. The bodies of Sergeant Russell and Sergeant Hogan were later washed ashore and it was recorded in 1949 that the remaining members of the crew had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of BJ587 were:
Flight Sergeant Austin John Hogan (422559) (Second Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Adrian Mervyn Lovelle-Draper (413624) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Davies McDonald (1346452) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant David Russell (415684) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Stanley Walter Wood (1335616) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Frank Elliott Worden (417551) (Bomb Aimer)
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, 166/36/104