LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Archie Campbell SWAN
Service No: 415880
Born: Wagin WA, 21 September 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 March 1942
Unit: No. 620 Squadron (RAF), RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire
Died: Air Operations (No. 620 Squadron Stirling aircraft LJ887), France, 8 May 1944, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Lyon (La Doua) French National Cemetery, Rhone, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edmund Thomas Swan and Sarah Ellen Swan; husband of Edith Olive Swan, of Scarborough, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
At 2231 hours on 7 May 1944, Stirling LJ887 took off from RAF Fairford detailed to attack an enemy target on a special mission. Nothing was heard from the aircraft and it failed to return to base. All the crew were killed and they are buried in the Lyon (La Doua) French National
Cemetery, France.
The crew members of LJ887 were:
Sergeant Aubrey Louis Arthur Ash-Smith (532211) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Donald Jones (1274381) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer James Henry Bennison Lister (1567060) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Eric George Swallow (1397729) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Archie Campbell Swan (415880) (Pilot)
Flying Officer William Joseph Tay (129610) (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
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/38/517