No. 1 Wireless Air Gunners School Ballarat<br>1940 -1945
No. 1 Wireless Air Gunners School Ballarat<br>1940 -1945
No. 1 Wireless Air Gunners School Ballarat<br>1940 -1945
No. 1 Wireless Air Gunners School Ballarat<br>1940 -1945
No. 1 Wireless Air Gunners School Ballarat<br>1940 -1945

Features

Wackett Aircraft 1940 at Ballarat Airfield 1WAGS
People

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.

History
History

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.

Courses
Courses

There were 58 Wireless Air Gunner Courses and 12 Navigator Courses conducted from 1940 to 1945.

Main Home Page Graphic

Memorial Roll

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.

 

 

 

 

Featured Story

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  - 

20th ANNIVERSARY OF THE EX-POW MEMORIAL BALLARAT

EX POW Memorial EX POW Memorial EX POW Memorial EX POW Memorial

The 20th Anniversary of the Ex-POW Memorial was held in Ballarat on February 11th 2024.
Over 800 people attended to pay their respects to the 36,400 POWs listed on the memorial wall with 8,600 dying in captivity.
To date there are only 10 Australian POWs left alive.
 
“When you go home, tell them of us, and say for your tomorrow we gave our today.”
 
Photos are of members of The Airforce Association Ballarat and the Prime Minister Mr Anthony Albanese the first sitting Prime Minister to attend the memorial.
150 POWs trained at 1WAGS with 31 dying in captivity.

Read More

Visit the POW Memorial Ballarat website

Acknowledgements

National Archives of AustraliaUBC Web DesignCity of BallaratAPCO AlfredtonDepartment of Veterans+39 AffairsAustralian War MemorialRSL Virtual War Memorial