LEST WE FORGET

Sergeant Gordon Burrows WOODROFFE

Service No: 404047
Born: Brisbane QLD, 7 March 1911
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 April 1940
Unit: No. 113 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 113 Squadron Blenheim aircraft V5990), off the Egyptian Coast, 9 August 1941, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harold Burrows Woodroffe and Clara Eliza Woodroffe; husband of Elva Margaret Woodroffe, of Deagon, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sandgate QLD
Remembered: Column 246, Alamein Memorial Egypt
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

On 9 August 1941 Blenheim V5990 was detailed to attack Landing Ground 150 and Bardia. V5590 was shot down into the sea off Mersa Matruh by RAF night fighter aircraft.

Sergeant Sands baled out and was in the water for eight hours before being rescued. He formed the opinion that both Woodroffe and Greenless could not have survived the crash. It was later recorded that the two missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.

The crew members of V5990 were:

Sergeant Alan Godfrey Greenlees (552880) (RAF) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant William Roy Sands (406037) (Pilot) Rescued, Discharged from the RAAF: 1 May1945
Sergeant Gordon Burrows Woodroffe (404047) (Observer)

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, 163/179/92

Book Now Book Now