LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Leslie Roy SHERWOOD
Service No: 406493
Born: Maylands WA, 19 January 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941
Unit: No. 5 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Turnberry, South Ayrshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 5 Operational Training Unit Beaufort aircraft DD881), Irish Sea, 27 October 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick Roy and Frances Ellen Sherwood; husband of M. C. Sherwood, of West Leederville, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 111, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Beaufort DD881 of No 5 Operational Training Unit was detailed to carry out a night navigational training exercise on 27 October 1942. The route was Base – Ayr – Mull of Kintyre – Rathlin East Maidens – Mull of Galloway – Corsewell – Base. A later Court of Inquiry found the cause of the accident in their opinion “the aircraft ran out of petrol by flying to its endurance through being lost and eventually presumably crashed into the Irish Sea at approx 2359 hours on 27/10/42. The original error was in navigation by the navigator which caused the aircraft to overshoot the Mull of Galloway and encounter the only patch of bad weather in the vicinity. It was later recorded that the missing crew had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of DD881 were:
Sergeant Robert Alexander Ellis (1098276) (RAFVR) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Gordon Hancock (1013793) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant George Wilkie Newman (1378510) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Leslie Roy Sherwood (406493) (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
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/161/311
Bibliography:
Gaston, Bruce DFC (406646), Harry Horner DFC OAM (406595), Raymond Storer (406666) (Editors), Aircrew for the Duration: of and by members of RAAF EATS Courses 10, 11, 12 & 13, Gaston Horner and Storer, Nedlands WA, 1990