LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Robert Ernest KERR MID
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 43295 (RAFVR)
Born: Date, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAF: 1939
Unit: No. 51 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Dishforth
Awarded the Mentioned in Despatches (MID)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 51 Squadron Whitley V aircraft Z6741), France, 5 July 1941, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Brest (Kerfautras) Cemetery, Finistere, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ernest and May Clarabel Kerr, of Ingleburn, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Commemorative Roll, Australian War Memorial, Canberra
Pilot Officer Kerr was an Australian Cadet accepted for training by the RAF who embarked for the UK on 12 August 1939.
On 4 July 1941, Whitley Z6741 took off from Dishforth at 2310 hours to attack Brest, France. The aircraft crashed near Brest and all four crew members were killed.
The crew members of Z6741 were:
Sergeant Glyn George Duckers (967901) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Pilot Officer Robert Ernest Kerr MID (43295) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Kenneth Albert King (966959) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Edwin Wood (989818) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
References:
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll On-Line Records
Chorley, W.R. Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War Volume 2 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1941, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1993
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/40/23
Newton, Dennis A Few of the Few: Australians and the Battle of Britain, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT 2600, 1990