LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Murray Rufus GOLDNEY
Service No: 417634
Born: Balaklava SA, 22 April 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 June 1942
Unit: No. 547 Squadron, RAF St Eval, Cornwall
Died: Air Operations (No. 547 Squadron Liberator aircraft BZ913), Bay of Biscay, 12 April 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Rufus Saunders Goldney and Louisa Marion Goldney; husband of Nance Goldney, of West Croydon, South Australia. Roseworthy Diploma of Agriculture; Hawkesbury Diploma of Dairying
Roll of Honour: Balaklava SA
Remembered: Panel 260, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Liberator BZ913 of No. 547 Squadron took off from RAF Station St Eval at 0602 hours on 12 April 1944 on an anti-sub patrol in the Bay of Biscay. The aircraft failed to return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of BZ913 were:
Sergeant Charles Hamilton Crosbie (1682055) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Edward Daniels (422141) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant Keith Reginald Foster (421846) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant Murray Rufus Goldney (417634) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer James Reginald Dyer (158451) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Nigel Henry Sutton (1267276) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant William George Swanbury (421867) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Wilfred Webb (410579) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Lawrence Albert Wood (812291) (RAF (Auxiliary Air Force))
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, 166/16/319
Bibliography:
Jay, Alwyn, Endurance; Coastal Command Liberator Operations 1941-5, Banner Books, Maryborough QLD, 4650, 1996