LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Edmund Leigh WOOLCOTT
Service No: 412046
Born: Adelaide SA, 21 October 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 June 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 502 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 502 Squadron Halifax aircraft HX175), Atlantic Ocean, 5 February 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Eric Stainer Woolcott and Evelyn Daisy Woolcott, of Manly, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 259, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Manly ANZAC War Memorial, Manly NSW
At 1721 hours on 5 February 1944 Halifax HX175 took off from St David’s on an anti-U boat patrol. The aircraft was due back at 0351 hours on the 6 February, but nothing further was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Following further enquiries and investigations it was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of HX175 were:
Warrant Officer Stanley Beaton (817076) (RAF) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Pilot Officer Laurence Neill Botsford (C/85726) (RCAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Francis Thomas Culling-Mannix (413535) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer Matthew James Fahey (629918) (RAF) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Flying Officer Douglas Emerson Geldart (J/23869) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Cyril Ostler (1311159) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Denis Thomas Williamson (149922) (RAFVR) (Gunner)
Pilot Officer Edmund Leigh Woolcott (412046) (Navigator/Bomb Aimer)
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, 166/44/100
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line