LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Gordon Roger JEFFREYS
Service No: 406358
Born: Fremantle WA, 25 September 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 November 1940
Unit: No. 34 Squadron (RAF), Silchar, India
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 34 Squadron Blenheim aircraft BA617), India, 15 March 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Gauhati War Cemetery, India
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Stanley and Rosa Jeffreys, of Fremantle, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Fremantle WA
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Blenheim BA617 took off at 1500 hours on 15 March 1943 from Silchar aerodrome en route for Khumbirgram aerodrome. At 1530 hours the aircraft crashed 25 miles east of the Khumbirgram aerodrome and was completely burnt out. All the crew were killed in the crash. From eye witness reports it appeared the aircraft stalled while carrying out a turn with undercarriage and flaps down. It was considered that the crash was caused by a stall off a turn at too low a speed with the undercarriage and flaps down. No bombs were carried.
The three crew members of BA617 were:
Warrant Officer Gordon Roger Jeffreys (406358) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Hearne (1153169) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Robert Ernest Skinner (749472) (RAF) (Wireless 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
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/20/19