LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Arthur Alexander DEY
Service No: 416001
Born: Port Pirie SA, 3 May 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 March 1941
Unit: No. 221 Squadron (RAF), Luqa, Malta
Died: Air Operations (No. 221 Squadron Wellington aircraft HX626), off Sicily, 27 February 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George and Mary Louisa Dey, of Port Pirie, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 11, Column 2, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Brother of Flight Lieutenant David George Dey (280627)
Wellington HX626 of 221 Squadron took off from RAF Luqa, Malta, at 1955 hours local time on 27 February 1943 on an enemy shipping search patrol between Marsala and Palermo. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. The bodies of Flying Officer Davey and Sergeant McArdle were recovered from the sea and are interred in the British Military Cemetery, Catania. In 1947 it was recorded that the remaining missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of HX626 were:
Flying Officer Dundonald Nelson Cochrane (67680) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flying Officer George Frank Davey (406470) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Arthur Alexander Dey (416001) (Pilot)
Sergeant George Wilson Dempster (777732) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Carl Elwood Jamieson (R/64923) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Clifford Austin McArdle (J/18756) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator 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, 166/9/36