DIAS – Vivian Peter

605691 – V.P. Dias – Br. Guiana – attested 24.9.43 – Sgt. Navigator UK 13.10.44

[Source NA AIR 2/6876]

With No 19 Operational Training Unit “C” Flight, he took off on a cross country flight in a Vickers Wellington LP760 at 11.52 on 20th April 1945. Near to Bank Head Farm, Humble, eight miles to the southwest of Lothian, the Wellington was cruising along at 5,000 feet when eyewitnesses on the ground reported a flash from front to rear. It was just after 12.40. The starboard wing broke away and the aircraft turned over and spun to earth, striking the ground upside down. Debris rained down; there was a wreckage trail of some 2,500 yards, and an opened parachute fell 500 yards beyond this. The investigator’s report concluded that the accident arose through lack of control, perhaps owing to icing or bumpiness, followed by structural failure in the air. The aircraft had “broken up suddenly and violently”, with its heavier parts dropping “practically vertically”.

[Source: Dover War Memorial Project]

One addition to “DIAS – Vivian Peter”

  1. Jerome Lee adds:

    Aircrew Sgt Vivian Peter, DIAS
    Service No: 605691 Service: RAFVR
    Trade/Branch: Nav
    Disposal: Killed Age 20 yrs Date Died: 20 Apr 1945
    Buried At: Haddington Roman Catholic Graveyard
    Grave/Memorial : Sec. M. Grave 18.
    Next of Kin: Son of Vivian Charles Dias,Acting Crown Solicitor and of Cecily Alice Dias (nee Benbow), of Georgetown, Demerara, British Guiana.
    Trained At: Canada
    Source(s): cwgc; Sunday Guardian 10 Oct 1943

    April 4th, 2009 at 1:00 am

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