LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Gordon Alex BOYD
Service No: 437044
Born: Terowie SA, 27 March 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 October 1942
Unit: No. 254 Squadron (RAF), RAF North Coates, Lincolnshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 254 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft NV 118), Lincolnshire, 19 January 1945, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Gordon Adam and Florence Boyd; husband of Edith Madge Gardiner Boyd, of Evandale, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Warooka SA
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
On a non-operational flight on 19th January 1945, Beaufighter NV118 crashed at 1410 hours on a beach 300 yards north east of North Coates airfield, Lincoln. All on board were killed. The aircraft crashed when the pilot lost control of the aircraft in a heavy snow storm after attempting to land at North Coates. Flight Sergeant Rothwell had previously taken off from RAF Woodbridge in NV118 at 1316 hours with the object of ferrying the aircraft back to North Coates.
The crew members of NV 118 were:
Flight Sergeant Gordon Alex Boyd (437044) (Pilot) Supernumerary
Flight Sergeant Jack Stanley Robinson (430767) (Pilot) Supernumerary
Flight Sergeant Raymond Joseph Rothwell (1602962) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
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, 166/6/909