Elliott, Edward John

Date of birth:: October 13th, 1920
Date of death:: June 17th, 2010
Service number:: Aus.415127
Nationality:: Australian (1901-present, Federal Monarchy)

Biography

From 'Down in Wales', by Terence R Hill:

"Wellington 1C R1534

On Dec 20th 1942 P/O EF Elliott, an Australian, took off from Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos, home of 21 OTU, on an exercise which included, amongst other duties, a photoflash exercise over the bombing range at Radway. The wop/ag was fatally injured when a photoflash exploded prematurely in the flare chute, although it is not certain whether he was killed immediately.
The pilot ordered the other crew members to bale out, but the navigator told the pilot that he was not certain whether the wop was dead, but was unable to do anything to help the injured man. The navigator then baled out, and together with the other crew members who had already left the a/c, landed safely.

Elliott was considering baling out, but seeing some villages nearby, and with the uncertainty over whether the wop was still alive, decided to remain with the aeroplane. By this time the a/c was down to 1500 feet, on fire and virtually uncontrollable, but he managed to make a successful forced landing in a field near Upper Talcoed farm, near Nantmel, Radnor. On hitting the ground the a/c immediately burst into flames and it was impossible to reach injured wop. The pilot was warmly praised for his devotion to duty.

The site is a fairly flat level field, and so in common with many other such sites, there is little, if anything, to be seen. The farmer's wife was very helpful and told me that four or so years ago. a group were searching in a particular field and got her daughter to take me there.

A metal detector brought to light much wreckage, including the front turret door handle and a section of geodetic construction with the VA '285' prefix used for the Wellington"

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