LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Roy Eric AYRE
Service No: 422095
Born: Bexley NSW, 12 September 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 April 1942
Unit: No. 83 Squadron
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 83 Squadron Boomerang aircraft A46-173), south of Gove NT, 22 May 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Adelaide River War Cemetery NT
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Ernest and Edith Susan Margaret Ayre; husband of Marjorie Winifred Ayre, of Punchbowl, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Kogarah NSW
Remembered: Panel 104, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 22 May 1944, Boomerang A46-173 flown by Flying Officer Ayre together with Boomerang A46-102 piloted by Pilot Officer Dal Scott Oliver (411176) (Discharged: 21 September 1945) took off at 0920 hours from Gove to carry out sector familiarization and gunnery detail. When A46-173 was about to commence a gunnery run, Pilot Officer Oliver noticed that it had flames coming from the port side of its engine. The aircraft was at 500 feet, lost height and crashed at 0950 hours, 80 miles south of Gove between Point Arrowsmith and Cape Shields.
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, 166/4/124; A705, 32/28/163