LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant David Claude Melville WALTON
Service No: 412043
Born: Sydney NSW, 31 August 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 June 1941
Unit: No. 78 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Breighton
Died: Aircraft Accident: (No. 78 Squadron Halifax aircraft BB373), Yorkshire, 24 August 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Claude David Melville Walton and Eunice May Walton, of Cremorne, New South Wales, Australia; husband of Joan Walton, of Mosman, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Mosman NSW
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2012 hours on the night of 23 August 1943 Halifax took off from Breighton detailed to bomb Berlin. On return from the mission BB373 was instructed to divert to Leconfield. At 0430 hours while circuiting the airfield BB373 collided with No. 78 Squadron Halifax aircraft JB874 and both aircraft fell at Hull Bridge, 2 miles north east of Beverley, Yorkshire. All the crew members of BB373 were killed and 6 lost their lives in JB874.
The crew members of BB373 were:
Flight Sergeant George Goodall Bell (42361) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Leslie Clarke (1439792) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Robert Bernard Fletcher (1811231) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer Ronald Reid Gilbert (156089) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Arthur Lee (1134570) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Albert Eric Lester (1214074) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Edward Platt (137558) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant David Claude Melville Walton (412043) (Mid Upper Gunner)
The crew members of JB874 were:
Flying Officer Harry William Baylis (136528) (RAFVR)
Sergeant J Greet (RAF) Injured
Sergeant Charles Henry Hilton (1208584) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Henry Raymond Jones (1419935) (RAFVR)
Flying Officer Charles James Keirl (113026) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Frederick Roberts (649066) (RAF)
Sergeant Ernest Bertram Frank Scorey (1628705) (RAFVR)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 4 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1943, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1996
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/43/314