LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Lloyd GEORGE
Service No: 406355
Born: Broken Hill NSW, 10 June 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 November 1940 (at Perth WA)
Unit: Overseas Air Delivery Unit (RAF)
Died: Air Operations (Overseas Air Delivery Unit Wellington aircraft Z8504), Mediterranean Sea, 23 January 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Lionel Bert and Emma Sara George, of Cannington, Western Australia. Chartered Accountant
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 109, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Wellington Z8504 left Gibraltar on 23 January 1942 in transit for the Middle East, but did not arrive at Malta. The aircraft crash landed in the sea. Of the crew of six, five survivor the crash and entered a survival dinghy. Sergeant Webb (the Rear Gunner) and two of the five reached the Algerian coast, Gardiner did not survive and three were interned. In 1948 it was recorded that Flying Officer George lost his life at sea.
The crew members of Z8504 were:
Pilot Officer Julius Bergson (106531) (RAFVR)
Flying Officer Lloyd George (406355) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Donald Shanahan* (J/16166) (RCAF) (later died on active service, 2 April 1944)
Pilot Officer John George Stratford Gardiner (106116) (RAFVR)
Sergeant L J Rymal* (R/67575) (RCAF)
Sergeant Thomas Henry Webb* (1382258) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner) (later died on active service, 3 April 1943)
* Interned by French authorities, released November 1942
In September 1942, the following statement was made by a survivor from the crash landing: “George was lost on or about the sixth day in the dinghy. The seas were very rough, we were without food or water, and we despaired of any hope of rescue. George was as always thinking of his mother and fiancée and showed a locket and photograph. He said a short prayer and went over the side of the dinghy. May you use this at your discretion, since I am sure I don’t know myself whether it was an accident or not, the seas being very rough indeed.”
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
Gunby, David and Pelham Temple, Royal Air Force Bomber Losses in the Middle East and Mediterranean Volume 1 1939-1942, Midland Publishing, 2006
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/33/57