LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant William David WEIR
Service No: 15851
Born: Walcha NSW, 5 January 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 June 1940
Unit: No. 27 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Lichfield, Staffordshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 27 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft BJ672), North Sea, 14 June 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick Caldwell Weir and Effie Rebecca Weir, of Walcha, New South Wales, Australia; husband of Isayabell Ann Weir, of Walcha.
Roll of Honour: Walcha NSW
Remembered: Panel 194, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Walcha War Memorial Cenotaph, Walcha NSW
Wellington BJ672 of No 27 Operational Training Unit RAF took off from RAF Station Lichfield at 1136 hours on a non operational flight over the North Sea on 14 June 1943. Communications were received from the aircraft at 1141 hours and 1224 hours when the aircraft was near Boston, Lincolnshire on the outward journey. No other messages were received and BJ 672 failed to return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of BJ672 were:
Flight Sergeant George Henderson Gray (413373) (Observer)
Flight Sergeant Ronald McLennan Grieve (410327) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Jack Stuart Lee (421602) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Victor Carl McQuade (412024) (Observer)
Flight Sergeant William David Weir (15851) (Pilot)
No. 27 Operational Training Unit lost Wellington BK843 (Flight Sergeant Edmund Geoffrey Holden (406977) (Pilot)) on 14 June 1943.
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, 166/43/229
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line