LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Alexander WOTHERSPOON
Service No: 401333
Born: Port Melbourne VIC, 27 December 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 February 1941
Unit: No. 61 Squadron (RAF), Detachment RAF Station St Eval (supporting Coastal Command)
Died: Air Operations (No. 61 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5605), Atlantic Ocean, 19 August 1942, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alexander and Cecelia Rosina Wotherspoon; husband of Phyllis Jean Wotherspoon, of Cheltenham, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 113, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster R5605 took off from St Eval at 0808 hours on 19 August 1942 to carry out an anti-submarine patrol in the Bay of Biscay. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. It was later recorded that the missing crew had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of R5605 were:
Flight Sergeant Owen Haynes (405752) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Donald James King (1382135) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Austin Shepherd (R/78934) (RCAF) (Second Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Edward Edmond Sheppard (R/65215) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer George Hilliard Smith (R/53943) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Hermann John Taylor (R/95405) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Alexander Wotherspoon (401333) (Second 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, 163/179/196