Gordon Harold "Gertie" Sawley (28 June 1913 – 14 August 1942) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played with

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at t ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL).

Family

The son of Andrew Gilbert Sawley (1883-1964), and Florence Maud Sawley (1883-1964), née Baldock, Gordon Harold Sawley was born at

Norwood, South Australia Norwood is a suburb of Adelaide, about east of the Adelaide city centre. The suburb is in the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters, whose predecessor was the oldest South Australian local government municipality. History Before British colonis ...

on 28 June 1913.

Siblings

His older brother, Frank Sawley, played 26 games with Norwood (1931-1934). Frank's son, Brian Sawley, played 138 games with Norwood. Brian Sawley is also remembered for being knocked unconscious by Victorian ruckman John Peck in the third quarter of the interstate match between Victoria and South Australia in Adelaide om 7 July 1963. Peck was found guilty of the offence by the South Australian Tribunal, which left the penalty to be determined by the VFL — displaying controversial leniency, the VFL only suspended Peck for two weeks. His younger brother,

Albert Sawley Albert George Sawley, also known as Pongo Sawley (27 October 1915 – 13 August 1983), was an Australian rules footballer who played with Norwood in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and St Kilda in the Victorian Football L ...

, played 110 games for Norwood and 11 games for St Kilda.

Football

Norwood

He played 53 games for Norwood (1937-1941).

South Melbourne

He joined the VFL side South Melbourne while on

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

duties, and played in 7 games in the 1941 season.

Death

He was killed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in a training accident whilst serving in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. On 14 August 1942, Sawley, piloting an

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was a British medium bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was one of three twin-engined, front line medium bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the Second World ...

, took off from

RAF Kinloss Royal Air Force Kinloss or RAF Kinloss is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near the village of Kinloss, on the Moray Firth in the north east of Scotland. The RAF station opened on 1 April 1939 and served as a training establishme ...

on a nighttime cross-country training exercise that would be followed by a bombing practice exercise. After the cross-country exercise operation finished, the Whitley headed back to RAF Kinloss and informed the base by radio that they would proceed on the bombing exercise. The aircraft was seen over

Forres Forres (; gd, Farrais) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several occasions. There ...

, and proceeded to turn north and then east. The plane then went down from in altitude to in altitude and disappeared from sight. Soon after, Sawley's plane crashed into the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

off

Findhorn Findhorn ( gd, Inbhir Èir or ''Inbhir Èireann'') is a village in Moray, Scotland. It is located on the eastern shore of Findhorn Bay and immediately south of the Moray Firth. Findhorn is 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Kinloss, and about 5 m ...

, Scotland, killing the flying officer and the 4 other crew on board. Search parties were dispatched, but only found wreckage. None of the crew's bodies have been found. He has no known grave, and is commemorated at the

Air Forces Memorial The Air Forces Memorial, or Runnymede Memorial, in Englefield Green, near Egham, Surrey, England is a memorial dedicated to some 20,456 men and women from air forces of the British Empire who were lost in air and other operations during World War ...

at Runnymede.Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Footnotes

References

* Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.
World War Two Nominal Roll: Flying Officer Gordon Harold Sawley (407951)
''Department of Veterans' Affairs''.
Roll of Honour: Flying Officer Gordon Harold Sawley (407951)
''Australian War Memorial''.
Roll of Honour Circular: Flying Officer Gordon Harold Sawley (407951)
''Australian War Memorial''.
Casualty Lists: South Australian Names: RAAF List: Believed Killed, Aircraft Accident, ''The (Adelaide) Chronicle'', (Thursday, 3 September 1942), p.24.

Casualty Lists: South Australian Names: RAAF List: Presumed Dead, ''The (Adelaide) Chronicle'', (Thursday, 17 December 1942), p.19.

Flying Officer Gordon Harold Sawley (407951)
''Commonwealth War Graves Commission''.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sawley, Gordon 1913 births 1942 deaths Australian rules footballers from South Australia Sydney Swans players Norwood Football Club players Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Australian military personnel killed in World War II Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in Scotland Royal Australian Air Force officers Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1942