LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant William Robertson SWAN
Service No: 409336
Born: Canterbury VIC, 5 March 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 15 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 15 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit Oxford aircraft HM727), Dorset, 22 May 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Taunton (St Mary’s) Cemetery, Somerset
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ernest William and Constance Barbara Swan, of East Malvern, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Malvern VIC
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
During a non-operational day wireless telegraph cross country training flight on 22 May 1943, Oxford HM727 crashed two miles north of Beaminster, Dorset at 1645 hours, killing both crew members.
The crew members of HM727 were:
Leading Aircraftman Frederick Harry Burgess Porter (1683562) (RAF) (Trainee Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant William Robertson Swan (409336) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705 166/38/149