LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Edward Murray OLDHAM
Service No: 402749
Born: Sydney NSW, 1 March 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 14 October 1940
Unit: No. 131 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 131 Squadron Spitfire aircraft BL249), Irish Sea, 27 March 1942, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Dr. Edward Percy Oldham and Muriel Irene Margaret Oldham, of Wollstonecraft, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 113, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1405 hours on 27 March 1942 Spitfire B 249 took off to carry out a convoy patrol. The aircraft was returning to base after the patrol in company with another aircraft. While over the sea in the vicinity of the Isle of Man, BL249 broke away from its leader when both were trying to establish radio communications with base. BL249 was not seen again and it did not return to base. It was thought that a contributory reason was that it may have been given an incorrect vector to steer back to base from its last known position, and that the aircraft may have been given a course to steer which directed it towards the middle of the Irish Sea.
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, 163/148/206