LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Noel Swanston JAY
Service No: 413204
Born: Byron Bay NSW, 6 May 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 August 1941
Unit: No. 8 Elementary Flying Training School, Narrandera NSW
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 8 Elementary Flying Training School Tiger Moth aircraft A17-68), near Leeton NSW, 17 August 1943, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Narrandera War Cemetery, NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Gladston Jay and Ethel Maude Jay; husband of Thelma Mary Jay, of Windsor
Roll of Honour: Bundaberg QLD
Remembered: Panel 116, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Narrandera Tiger Moth Memorial, Narrandera NSW
From the available records, it is not clear why Flight Sergeant Jay’s Roll of Honour is Bundaberg, Queensland.
During a training flight on 17 August 1943, Tiger Moth A17-68 crashed at 1440 hours five miles east of Leeton, New South Wales, and Flight Sergeant Jay was killed. The aircraft failed to recover from a spin and crashed.
The crew members of A17-68 were:
Flight Sergeant Noel Swanston Jay (413204) (Instructor Pilot)
Leading Aircraftman Geoffrey Alexander Staehli (433398) (Trainee Pilot) Dangerously injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 15 October 1945
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
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/20/56; A9845, 33
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line