LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant John George LEY
Service No: 426623
Born: Tallangatta VIC, 6 July 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1942 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 131 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Killades
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 131 Operational Training Unit Catalina aircraft FP240), Atlantic Ocean, 22 November 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Andrew and Eva Elizabeth Ley, of Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia; husband of Irene Agna Ley, of Nundah, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Proston QLD
Remembered: Panel 196, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Flying Officer Andrew Thomas Ley (425475)
On 22 November 1943 Catalina FP240 took off from Killades for a daylight operational flying exercise. Nothing was heard from FP240 after take-off and it did not return to base. There was no evidence to show why the aircraft failed to reach Bowmore, the water field for which it was bound. Air Sea Rescue searches were conducted but no trace was found of the missing aircraft or crew. In 1949 it was recorded that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of FP240 were:
Sergeant Robert Anderson (976296) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Edwin Alfred Dennis Barnes (576536) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Francis Peter Graves (117452) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Owen Douglas Hodgkison (418039) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant John George Ley (426623) (Fitter Mechanic Airframe)
Sergeant Earl Darragh Morrison (1093659) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Mechanic)
Sergeant Alexander Fordyce Sutherland (1564152) (RAFVR) (Fitter Mechanic Engines)
Sergeant Allan Douglas Warder (1290916) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Flight Sergeant John Francis Whitley (1069888) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Sergeant John Glynne Williams (1455080) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
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, 166/18/223