LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant David WALTERS
Service No: 421776
Born: Paddington NSW, 26 February 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 March 1942
Unit: No. 6 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Silloth
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 6 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft X3986), Solway Firth, 20 August 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Troqueer Cemetery, Dumfriesshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Samuel and Elizabeth Ann Walters, of Cronulla, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Cronulla NSW
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 20 August 1943, Wellington X3986 took off for a training flight over the sea. At 1137 hours the aircraft crashed in Solway Firth just off the Cumberland coast, when it force landed in the sea near the bombing range. The aircraft was engaged in a low level 600 feet bombing exercise. It made a run in to the target, and circled the target. Smoke was seen to come from it, and it then proceeded to ditch. Rescue boats failed to pick up any of the crew members.
The crew members of X3986 were:
Sergeant Hugh Lloyd Griffiths (1317513) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant George Meada Jackson (1394331) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Francis James Manley (1452197) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Marsh (1496762) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant David Walters (421776) (Observer)
Sergeant James Waugh (1484114) (RAFVR) (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, 166/43/305