Alfred George Davis

Missing WWII plane found after 50 years

The propeller at Haverfordwest
Chris Hall

Alfred George Davis, (my uncle) was a resident of Ottowa Road in Tilbury with my gran, granddad, his brother and 3 sisters. He became a volunteer sergeant in the RAF during ww2 and was stationed in (I believe) Haverfordwest on coastal command duties. He was posted as missing in 1942 and my mother never heard any more.

But, in 1993 my mother told me the wreckage of his Westland Lysander aircraft had been found by divers off the West coast of Wales. An incredible story! The diver who found the wreckage had phoned all Davis’s in Tilbury and Chadwell to find any surviving relative of Alfred after contacting RAF records. The propeller of Lysander serial V9444 now stands on a plinth at the entrance to Haverfordwest airport.

There are Alfred and Davis roads in Tilbury,but I am not sure who they were named after.

[Note: Alfred Davis is commemorated on the RAF memorial at Runneymede – http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/231940/DAVIS,%20ALFRED%20GEORGE]

 

 

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  • Alfred Davis previously served on 125 Squadron flying Defiant night fighters, and on 19th August 1941, had to bale out of one after it suffered a failure of electrical system. It crashed at Lower Lydbrook in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. His pilot, Richard Bastow also escaped.

    I am writing the history of the Defiant aircraft and I am trying to source a photo of Alfred Davis for the book in relation to the above incident so if anyone can assist me I’d love to hear from them.

    [If anyone wishes to help Andrew with a photo or any other assistance please contact admin@tilburyandchadwellmemories.org.uk
    John Matthews
    (Site Admin)]

    By Andrew Long (21/12/2023)
  • What an amazing story, thank you for sharing this with the site.

    By Annie O'Brien (16/12/2013)

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