LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Brian Charles Francis KELLY
Service No: 436681
Born: Perth WA, 11 July 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 July 1921
Unit: No. 30 Squadron
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 30 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft A8-91), off Morotai, 1 October 1945, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Charles and Mary Kelly, of East Perth, Western Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 9, Ambon Memorial, PNG
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 1 October 1945, Beaufighter A8-91 crashed in the sea, four miles from the Wama airstrip at Morotai, when taking off on a non-operational test flight. The aircraft sank immediately, But the Pilot who was uninjured, escaped from the aircraft from under water and when he reached the surface he could find no trace of the Navigator. The water was too deep for the salvage of the aircraft to be considered practicable.
The crew members of A8-91 were:
Warrant Officer Eric Clarence Fisher (436641) (Pilot) Uninjured, Discharged from the RAAF: 1 May 1946
Warrant Officer Brian Charles Francis Kelly (436681) (Navigator Wireless)
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, 166/22/626; A9845, 54
Bibliography:
Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed, Terry Hills NSW, 1980
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990