LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Allan Neil BLACKLEY
Service No: 403495
Born: Guildford NSW, 9 February 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 February 1941
Unit: No. 1481 (Bombing) Gunnery Flight (RAF), RAF Station Binbrook, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 1481 (Bombing) Gunnery Flight Wellington aircraft X9812), North Sea, 26 June 1942, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James and Margaret Blackley, of Guildford, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 112, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Guildford Soldiers Memorial, Guildford NSW
Remembered: Arthur Phillip High School World War II Roll of Honour, Parramatta NSW
Wellington X9812 took off from Binbrook at 2310 hours on the night of 25 June 1942 to attack Bremen, Germany. The aircraft participated in the Third “Thousand Plan” attack of 1942. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. It was presumed that the aircraft had crashed in the North Sea. The bodies of two crew members were washed ashore and three remain missing.
The crew members of X9812 were:
Squadron Leader Matthew Richard Atkinson (39364) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Allan Neil Blackley (403495) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Douglas Howie McIntosh (407603) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant John Gregory O’Sullivan (403432) (Observer)
Sergeant William Waller (1313097) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/92/153
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line