LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer David Scott JEFFERIES
Service No: 407046
Born: Adelaide SA, 10 December 1911
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 April 1940
Unit: No. 109 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations (No. 109 Squadron Wellington aircraft X9988), Egypt, 22 November 1941, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Lionel Harry and Norma Lily Jefferies, of Lower Mitcham, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Mitcham SA
Remembered: Column 245, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Brother of Pilot Officer Ross Wilson Jefferies (407140)
On 22 November 1941, Wellington X9988 took off from Landing Ground 75 on an electronic counter measures mission and was probably shot down by Italian fighter aircraft. The wreckage of the aircraft was subsequently found by Army forces 4.5 miles from Bkarinni near Bir El Igela, some 70 kms south west of Tobruk. There were no survivors from the crash and the Army unit which found the wrecked aircraft buried the bodies where the aircraft was found. At the time the remains of three members of the crew were identified and the remainder including Flying Officer Jefferies was not positively identified. In 1946 as the remains were buried in minefields, the search for unidentified members was abandoned by the Graves Registration unit, and they were recorded as having no known grave.
The crew members of X9988 were:
Sergeant Malcolm Alec Forrest (643263) (RAF) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Bethell Hughes (1266724) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flying Officer David Scott Jefferies (407046) (Observer)
Sergeant William Austin Keogh (J/15852) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Richard Edward Nicholson (785015) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant David Sidebottom (1052404) (RAFVR) (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
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, 163/38/27
Bibliography:
Brettingham, Laurie, Beam Benders No. 80 (Signals) Wing RAF 1940-5, Midland Publishing, Leicester UK, 1997