LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Alfred Ernest ROBERTS
Service No: 262362
Born: Sydney NSW, 28 January 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 October 1940
Unit: No. 5 Operational Training Unit
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 5 Operational Training Unit Beaufighter aircraft A19-99), near Deniliquin NSW, 26 May 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Deniliquin War Cemetery, NSW
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter Joseph and Ethel Hannah Roberts, of Sydney; husband of Alethea Fonston Roberts, of Wollstonecraft
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 112, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1330 hours on the 26 May 1944, Beaufighter A19-99 crashed some 3 miles east of Deniliquin and Flight Lieutenant Roberts was killed. A19-99 was flying No. 2 in a three aircraft formation on a low flying exercise, in which they were required to maintain a minimum height of 100 feet and the crash of A19-99 was due to an engine failure.
The crew members of A19-99 were:
Sergeant Kenneth Ivan Davis (436366) (Observer) Seriously injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 13 July 1945
Flight Lieutenant Alfred Ernest Roberts (262362) (Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/55/240; A9845, 16
Bibliography:
Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed, Terry Hills NSW, 1980
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990