LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant Roy John TAYLOR

Service No: 408788
Born: Shepparton VIC, 8 June 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 May 1941
Unit: No. 547 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Davidstow Moor, Cornwall
Died: Air Operations: (No. 547 Squadron Wellington aircraft HZ351), Bay of Biscay, 15 August 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William James Taylor, and Isabella M. Taylor, of Shepparton, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Shepparton VIC
Remembered: Panel 194, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 1410 hours on 15 August 1943 Wellington HZ351 took off from Davidstow Moor to carry out an operational sortie in the Bay of Biscay. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. The enemy claimed to have destroyed four British aircraft in the area that day, but it is not known if it included HZ351. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.

The crew members of HZ351 were:

Warrant Officer Alan Lennox Bathurst (12168) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer John Sculthorpe Blunt (132321) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer Adam Fisher (123892) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Lloyd Garnet Simpson (408784) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Roy John Taylor (408788) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer James Whyte (413954) (RNZAF) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/39/114

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