LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Keith Edward JEFFERY
Service No: 38363
Born: Bunbury WA, 29 June 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 April 1941
Unit: No. 1667 Conversion Unit (RAF) RAF Sandtoft, Lincolnshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1667 Conversion Unit Halifax aircraft LK901), Scotland, 8 November 1944, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Montrose (Sleepy Hillock) Cemetery, Angus, Scotland
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alexander Harold and Edith May Jeffery, of Bunbury, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Bunbury WA
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
On the 8th November 1944, Halifax LK901 took off from RAF Sandtoft at 2045 hours, for a night cross-country training flight. At approximately 2355 hours, the aircraft disintegrated after the pilot lost control in cumulus nimbus cloud which built up to a height of 20,000 feet. The aircraft crashed near Glenshee Post office near Perth, and all the crew were killed. A preliminary investigation into the accident disclosed glueing of the impellor and signs of burning externally on the fuel tanks.
The crew members of LK901 were:
Flight Sergeant Arthur Wallace Cooke (1510) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer William Alexander Edmonds (19882) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Jeffrey James Grieve (419307) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant Keith Edward Jeffery (38363) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Charles Bede Mackay (439896) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Arthur Wallace Spencer Maggs (439657) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Walter Charles Picton (300833) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
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, 166/20/193