LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Ashley David LYON
Service No: 411143
Born: Waverley NSW, 14 June 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 April 1941
Unit: No. 3 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 3 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft DV927), Lincolnshire, 26 January 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Cranwell (St Andrew) Churchyard, Lincolnshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Windemere Edwin and Helen Lyon, of Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 26 January 1943, Wellington DV927 was detailed to carry out a fighter affiliation exercise with a Beaufighter aircraft of No. 409 Squadron RCAF. DV927 crashed at Swine’s Heads, Lincolnshire, and all the crew members were killed. A Court of Inquiry found that: “the primary cause of the accident was due to the Pilot having carried out a manoeuvre which placed the aircraft in such an attitude, that he had insufficient height to recover normal flight before it hit the ground. A contributing cause was considered to be the inexperience of Sergeant Jerome on Wellington type aircraft.”
The crew members of DV927 were:
Flying Officer Brian Herbert Bailey MID (46343) (RAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Peter Vivian Jerome (1313956) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Ashley David Lyon (411143) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Harry Lowe (655212) (RAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Charles Alfred Ravenette (1386632) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Harry James Sterne (1314126) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Frederick George Wilkinson (1251252) (RAFVR) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/140/90