LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Michael Justin TYMMS
Service No: 422324
Born: Launceston TAS, 23 December 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 April 1942 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 13 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 13 Operational Training Unit Mitchell aircraft FL193), Buckinghamshire, 21 September 1943, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Oxford (Botley) Cemetery, Oxfordshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Dr. Albert Oscar Vincent Tymms and Henrietta Eyre Maunsell Tymms, of Neutral Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Launceston TAS
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 21 September 1943 Mitchell FL193 took off from RAF Finmere satellite airfield detailed to carry out a non-operational training exercise. Shortly after take-off at 2115 hours the aircraft crashed 3 miles from the aerodrome at Steeple Claydon, Buckinghamshire, and burned out. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of FL193 were:
Sergeant Eric George Bailey (422375) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer John Ledgerwood (421863) (Pilot)
Sergeant Michael Justin Tymms (422324) (Air Gunner)
A report on the Flying accident stated “the aircraft struck the ground at a very shallow angle and apparently at a very high speed as the engines were some 1,000 yards from the point of impact. Both motors appear to have been under power. It is possible that the accident may have been due to faulty instrument flying or that the Navigator may have fouled the controls getting in to the co-pilots seat.”
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, 166/40/88