Walter Vernon Wilfred's Story.
Flying Officer Walter Vernon Wilfred ALLAMBYService No: 428516
Born: Millgrove VIC, 1 August 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 November 1942
Unit: No. 467 Squadron, RAF Station Waddington, Lincolnshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 467 Squadron Lancaster aircraft NF908), Staffordshire, 3 January 1945, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Chester (Blacon) Cemetery, Cheshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred Ernest and Ruby Frances Allamby of Millgrove, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Canterbury VIC
Remembered: Panel 110, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
The crew of NF908 had not been at No.467 Sqn for long, being posted in from No.5 Lancaster Finishing School in at the beginning of December 1944. From available records it would appear that most of the crew met at No.27 OTU at Lichfield in July 1944, though Sgt Lees, the sole RAF airman on the crew, would have joined them at No.1654 HCU or No.5 LFS.
At around 14:30hrs on the 3rd January 1945 the crew of Lancaster NF908 took off from RAF Waddington near Lincoln for a fighter affiliation exercise with an alternative of a 1-hour cross-country navigation exercise, should the weather have been deemed suitable. About 90 minutes into the flight with the sun almost set (sunset was 16:03) the aircraft descended through low cloud and snow showers and flew into the eastern side of the Roaches a few miles from the Staffordshire town of Leek and was completely destroyed by fire. All seven crew on board killed (no survivors)
After the crash the site was buried by snow, which for several days hid the bodies of some members of the crew. By the 6th January 1945 all but Flight Sergeant Dunbar had been recovered by personnel from No.28 MU at Harpur Hill near Buxton.
The crew members of NF908 were:
Flying Officer Walter Vernon Wilfred Allamby (428516) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Geoffrey James Dunbar (424391) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Richard Emonson (430484) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Norman Lees (2218806) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant Jack Ivan Pritchard (421047) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Cleveland Charles Watson (434547) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Thomas Edward Harold Wright (430728) (Air Gunner)
Crew Burial at Blacon
Walter's grave
Crash location