LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Robert Anthony WIXTED
Service No: 434555
Born: Brisbane QLD, 13 June 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 December 1942
Unit: No. 1667 Conversion Unit (RAF), RAF Station Sandtoft
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1667 Conversion Unit Halifax aircraft DG414), Lincolnshire, 5 July 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas Michael and Margaret Wixted, of Coorparoo, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Flight Sergeant Thomas Joseph Wixted (404225)
On 5 July 1944, Halifax DG414 took off from Sandtoft for dual instruction for the crew. While flying at 200 feet on three engines, the Pilot lost control and the aircraft crashed at 1315 hours at Alkborough on the south bank of the Humber River, seven miles north west of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. Six of the crew members were killed, one died from his injuries and two were injured.
The crew members of DG414 were:
Pilot Officer Edward Barley (176232) (RAFVR) (Pilot under instruction)
Sergeant George Beedle (1594241) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant John Norman Bond (424080) (Navigator)
Sergeant T E Carr (1590301) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) Injured
Sergeant Hubert Fryer (1623205) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Lieutenant Benjamin Edward McLaughlin DFC (127223) (RAFVR) (Instructor Pilot)
Sergeant P Morrissey DFM (1661466) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) Injured
Sergeant Ivor Hubert Simmonds (1836668) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) Fatally injured, Died: 5 July 1944
Flight Sergeant Robert Anthony Wixted (434555) (Wireless 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, 166/43/752