James Alexander Alcorn

Role: Dillon-branch descendant — RAAF sergeant lost over the North Sea, WWII
Born: 2 December 1915 — Adelaide, South Australia
Died: 16 July 1942 (aged 26) — North Sea (aircraft accident, no remains recovered)
Father: Leslie Alcorn
Mother: Rebecca Elizabeth Alcorn
Branch: Tantanoola/Dillon line of Elizabeth Beattie Telfer

War Service

Sergeant James Alexander ALCORN (Service No. 407886), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Air Gunner. Enlisted 3 February 1941. Unit: No. 27 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Lichfield, Staffordshire.

Died in an aircraft accident when Wellington P9285 of No. 27 OTU, on a cross-country training exercise, crashed into the North Sea on 16 July 1942 (RDF plot faded at 1230 hrs; aircraft did not return). Aged 26. Body never recovered.

Commemorated at the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, England. Names on the AWM Roll of Honour panel.

Son of Leslie and Rebecca Elizabeth Alcorn; husband of Rona Mary Alcorn, of Henley Beach, South Australia.

Life Summary

James Alexander Alcorn, born Adelaide 2 December 1915, was an RAAF Air Gunner during the Second World War. Attached to the RAF's No. 27 Operational Training Unit at Lichfield for training, his Wellington bomber disappeared over the North Sea on 16 July 1942 and his body was never recovered. He is commemorated at the Runnymede Memorial in England.

Anecdote

🖊️ Anecdote — as told in A Telfer Family Tree (Supplement 2008, p.198): RAAF sergeant James Alcorn was lost when his Wellington crashed into the North Sea during RAF training at Lichfield in July 1942. His body was never recovered; Runnymede remembers him.

Sources

• Source: Australian War Memorial — James Alexander Alcorn, R1706397 — accessed 12 Aug 2026 (verified: Sergeant, No. 27 OTU RAF, 16 July 1942, North Sea, Runnymede Memorial)
• Source: Aviation Heritage Museum WA — ALCORN James Alexander 407886 — accessed 12 Aug 2026 (verified: Sgt, born Adelaide 2 Dec 1915, No. 27 OTU RAF Lichfield, Wellington P9285, North Sea 16 Jul 1942 aged 26, unrecovered)
• Source: Find a Grave — memorial 249758299 — accessed 12 Aug 2026
• Source: A Telfer Family Tree (Supplement to From the Borders to the Bush, 2008), p.198 — family book record of the service and death