Over 6,000 RAAF personnel were trained at 1 W.A.G.S Ballarat during WW2. Approximately 20% of the trainees died in action or on active service.
No. 1 Wireless Air Gunnery School [W.A.G.S] Ballarat was established on the 22nd April 1940 as part of the Empire Training Scheme. This scheme was to support RAF Bomber Command during WW2.
There were 58 Wireless Air Gunner Courses and 12 Navigator Courses conducted from 1940 to 1945.
The MEMORIAL ROLL commemorates to date 1,182 RAAF 1 W.A.G.S. trainees who were killed in action or on active service during WW2.
Fight Sergeant Dennis Leslie BAULDERSTONE 416112 .Courses 13 and 15
Flight Sergeant Baulderstone was aboard the Avro Anson AW878 when it crashed at Lady Julia Percy Island off Port Fairy, Victoria, Australia.
The aircraft had set off on a navigation sortie from its Mt Gambier base. He, together with 3 other crew members, were killed.
He was 22 years old.
The FEATURED STORY pays tribute to a person, and or event, connected to 1 W.A.G.S Ballarat.
The story commemorates the valiant RAAF 1 W.A.G.S trainees who served in WW2 in all theatres of war – those who lost their lives and those who returned.
The FEATURED STORY honours -
Lancaster ME663 of 460 Squadron RAAF based at Binbrook UK was shot down on the 10th April 1944 by a German night-fighter and anti-aircraft fire and crashed near the town of Aale in Denmark. The aircraft was homeward bound after an operation to lay mines in the Baltic.
Five of the seven crewmen were killed in the crash and are buried in Esbjerg [Fourfelt] Cemetery in Denmark. Two became PoW with one dying of his injuries during captivity.
CHAPMAN, Leslie Harold [Flight Sergeant] 410641 RAAF Wireless Operator/Air Gunner. Born Stawell, Victoria. KILLED Age 20
CROSBY, Peter Alan [Flight Lieutenant] DFC 416656 RAAF Pilot. Born Brighton South Australia. KILLED Age 20
BILLETT, Clive [Flight Sergeant] 414191 RAAF Bomb /Aimer. Born Darwin, Northern Territory. KILLED Age 25
ROBB, Laurence William [Flying Officer] 418879 RAAF Air Gunner. Born Alexandra, Victoria. Trained at 1 WAGS Ballarat Course 29. KILLED Age 33
BENDER, Milton Harold [Pilot Officer] DFC 173405 RAF Engineer Born Middlesex England. KILLED Age 20
HODGE, Frederick Stanley [Flight Sergeant] DFM 426100 RAAF Rear Gunner. Born Melbourne, Victoria. Taken prisoner by German captors and survived the war. PoW Discharged 28th November 1945
SUFFREN, Charles Edward [Flying Officer] DFC 409280 RAAF Navigator. Born Ballarat, Victoria. Survived but with severe injuries. He passed away in a LUFTWAFFE Military hospital in Germany 10 months after the crash and is buried in Durnbach Cemetery in Germany. PoW
