LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Lindsay Morton SERGEANT
Service No: 420604
Born: Kashmir, India, 14 December 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 12 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 12 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft BK248), Northamptonshire, 12 February 1944, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Oxford (Botley) Cemetery, Oxfordshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Stanley Stuart Sergeant and Lillian Ethel Sergeant, of South Yarra, Victoria, Australia; husband of Olive Sergeant of Edgeware, Middlesex
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2042 hours on the night of 12 February 1944 Wellington BK248 took off from RAF Chipping Warden detailed to carry out a night bombing training exercise. At 2122 hours, Flying Control called the aircraft instructing it to land. This message, which may not have been acknowledged, was later repeated, but nothing was known until 2300 hours when a report came through to say that the burnt out remains of a bomber had been found at Fosters Booth on Watling Street, some 9 miles north east of the airfield. Subsequently it was learnt that the crash had occurred at 2152 and that Sergeant Gillis was in hospital with a fractured leg. The other four crew members were killed in the crash.
The crew members of BK248 were:
Sergeant J J Gillis (R/153368) (RCAF) (Air Gunner) Injured
Sergeant William Leslie Pemberton (1262146) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Lindsay Morton Sergeant (420604) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Robert Arthur James Vagg (J/23744) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Harold Lees Williams (1579033) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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, 166/37/322