LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant George Alphonsus McGILVRAY
Service No: 420980
Born: Goulburn NSW, 30 March 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 December 1941
Unit: No. 179 Squadron (RAF), Gibraltar
Died: Air Operations: (No. 179 Squadron Wellington aircraft HF 194), off the Iberian Atlantic Coast, 17 January 1944 Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Alexander McGilvray and Charlotte McGilvray, of Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 16, Column 2, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Goulburn-Mulwaree Honour Roll 1939-1972, Goulburn NSW
Wellington HF 194 of No. 179 Squadron took off from RAF Station North Front, Gibraltar, on the evening of 16 January 1944, to carry out an anti-submarine patrol in the vicinity of Cape St Vincent. The aircraft was due back at 0800 hours the next day, but it did not return to base.
Extensive searches were carried out but no trace of the missing aircraft or crew were found. This was the first operational trip for the newly formed crew.
The crew members of HF 194 were:
Flight Sergeant Thomas Mervyn Andersen (425577) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Ronald David Anthony (422529) (Wireless Air Gunner
Flight Sergeant Peter William Hedley Crickmay (R/151913) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Sydney Ross Hore (416856) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant George Alphonsus McGilvray (420980) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer William Yule McNeil (J/19838) (RCAF) (Pilot)
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
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/141/767