LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Alfred Guthrie WHITE
Service No: 400377
Born: Sydney NSW, 27 December 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 August 1940 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 8 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 8 Squadron Blenheim aircraft V6222), off the Yemen Coast, 25 September 1941, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred Alexander White and Margaret Rae White, of Camberwell, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Camberwell VIC
Remembered: Panel 246, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 25 September 1941 Blenheim V6222 was engaged on an exercise which involved flying over the sea at about 500 feet and about 40 miles from land. About 0720Z hours the aircraft crashed into the sea about 40 miles due south of Aden. Subsequent air searches found petrol tanks and small pieces of wreckage which indicated that the aircraft crashed at high speed. No survivors were found. It was later recorded that the missing crew had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of V6222 were:
Flight Sergeant Eric Victor Message (625494) (RAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant James Edward Stoddard (751559) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Alfred Guthrie White (400377) (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, 163/177/148
Bibliography:
Ilbery, P.L.T. (Peter Leslie Thomas) (422957) Hatching an Air Force: 2SFTS, 5SFTS, 1BFTS Uranquinty and Wagga Wagga, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 2002