LEST WE FORGET
Wing Commander Alan Francis Moir SISLEY
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 39008 (RAF)
Born: Date, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAF: 1936
Unit: No. 550 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 550 Squadron Lancaster I aircraft MF962), France, 31 August 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Francis Andrew and Carina Faith Sisley; husband of Josephine Mary Sisley, of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Supplementary Panel 12, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wing Commander Sisley was an Australian Cadet trained for the RAF and embarked for the UK on 11 January 1936.
On 31 August 1944, Lancaster NF962 took from RAF North Killingholm at 1307 hours, detailed to bomb a V2 rocket store at Agenville, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at l-Etoile (Pas-de-Calais), on the north side of the Somme, 12 kms north west of Picquigay, France. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of NF962 were:
Sergeant Hugh Henry Mills Connolly (1569111) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Derek Picken Gates (1836678) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Thomas Hamilton (1826261) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Ronald McLeod (1823751) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Arthur Stuart Parsons (434266) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Peter Charles Siddall (421538) (RNZAF) (Second Pilot)
Wing Commander Alan Francis Moir Sisley (39008) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Harold George Thomas (1441411) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/37/538
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Newton, Dennis A Few of the Few: Australians and the Battle of Britain, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT 2600, 1990