LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Alexander Gordon RODGERS
Service No: 421628
Born: Coraki NSW, 25 July 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 February 1942
Unit: No. 76 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Holme-on-Spalding Moor
Died: Air Operations: (No. 76 Squadron Halifax aircraft LK873), France, 19 July 1944, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Sailly-Flibeaucourt Churchyard, Somme, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John and Theresa Mary Rodgers, of Tomki, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Coraki NSW
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2208 hours on the night of 18 July 1944 Halifax LK873 took off from Holme-on-Spalding Moor detailed to bomb a flying bomb launch site at Acquet, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. LK873 was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 0030 hours on 19 July 1944 at Sailly-Flibeaucourt in the Department of the Somme, 8 kms north north west from Abbeville, France. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of LK873 were:
Pilot Officer David Ellis Blockley DFM (175588) (RAFVR) (Tail Gunner)
Sergeant Ronald Nevill (1802280) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Fred Phillips (2208843) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Wilfred Ray (1138809) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Pilot Officer Alexander Gordon Rodgers (421628) (Air Bomber)
Flight Lieutenant Paul Ernest Sinclair DFC (420288) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Gwynfor Watkins (140880) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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, 166/36/314
Bibliography:
Chorley W R, To See the Dawn Breaking: 76 Squadron Operations, W R Chorley Devon UK, 1981