LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Trevor Arthur LEY
Service No: 400811
Born: Casterton VIC, 2 June 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1940
Unit: No. 27 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Lichfield
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 27 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft X3785), Wales, 15 May 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Oswestry General Cemetery, Shropshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ernest James Ley and Agnes Edith Ley, of Casterton, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Casterton VIC
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2241 hours on the night of 14/15 May 1943, Wellington X3785 took off from Lichfield for a night cross country exercise combined with a Bullseye operation. At 0234 hours, Sergeant Lee sent a brief standby for message signal, but before this could be transmitted, the aircraft dived almost vertically into the ground, (narrowly missing an isolated farmhouse), one mile north of Lake Vyrnwy in Montgomeryshire. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of X3785 were:
Sergeant Ernest Leslie Clark (1578459) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer George Herbert Cone (139888) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Gordon Stone Lee (1316014) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Trevor Arthur Ley (400811) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer John William Robb (116074) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Arthur William Sayers (1322634) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/24/102