LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Paul Collin VOLLER
Service No: 404270
Born: Brisbane QLD, 25 March 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 July 1940
Unit: No. 12 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Binbrook, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 12 Squadron Wellington II aircraft W5382), off Brest, France, 6 January 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Collin James Voller and Una Grace Voller, of Taringa, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 111, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wellington W5382 took off from Binbrook at 1708 hours on 6 January 1942 to carry out a bombing mission against Brest, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. The aircraft was hit by flak and crashed on fire into the sea off Brest. In 1949 it was recorded that the missing crew had lost their lives at sea. The names of the missing crew are commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing, Runnymede, Surrey, UK
The crew members of W5382 were:
Sergeant Raymond Bertram Hamilton Driver (1189757) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Eric Hill (1151830) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Pilot Officer Peter Collin Voller (404270) (Pilot)
Sergeant Jack Wild (1057895) (RAF) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Wilbert George Yorke (R/66080) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Joseph Walter Young (1170647) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
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, 163/175/65