LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Sydney Thomas FLOWERS
Service No: 400190
Born: Melbourne VIC, 19 May 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 June 1940
Unit: Overseas Aircraft Delivery Unit
Died: Air Operations: (Overseas Aircraft Delivery Unit Wellington aircraft Z8730), off the North African Coast, 1 July 1941, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Thomas Flowers and Beatrice Mabel Flowers, of South Yarra, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 62, Runnymede, Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2013 hours on 1 July 1941 Wellington Z8730 took off from Malta for Egypt but failed to arrive at its destination. The aircraft went down in the sea and the remains of only crew member were recovered. Following post war enquiries and investigations it was recorded the other crew members had lost their lives at sea. Sergeant Flowers is remembered at Runnymede and the other missing crew members at Malta.
The crew members of Z8730 were:
Sergeant Sydney Thomas Flowers (400190) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant James Walford Hamborough (1164555) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sgt James Edward Jamieson (R/65791) (RCAF)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Rolfe Jowett (627885) (RAF)
Sergeant Arthur Joseph Lassner (R/56162) (RCAF)
Sergeant Arthur Newbould (1052300) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) Remains recovered
Flight Sergeant Hay George Simpson (966882) (RAFVR)
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
Gunby D (David) and Pelham Temple, Royal Air Force Bomber Losses in the Middle East and Mediterranean, Volume 1 1939-1942, Midland Publishing UK, 2006
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/112/58