Also Known AsV. C. ElyAdditional InformationVivian Clive Ely enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force Reserve in December 1941 and entered active service in May 1942. He was 20 years old and employed as a clerk in Brisbane. He underwent flight training and qualified as a pilot in July 1943. In August 1943, he arrived in the United Kingdom, via New York and may have spent time in Canada where the Empire Air Training Scheme operated. Vivian was attached to No 462 Squadron, part of 4 Group and later 100 Group, Bomber Command. 100 Group was a specialist formation tasked with disrupting the German air defence system through the employment of diversionary raids and various radio countermeasures. The squadron's operations played a critical role in drawing German attention away from real raids during late 1944 and the first half of 1945.
On 24 February 1945, Vivian and the other 7 members of his flight crew were killed when their Halifax aircraft was shot down on a night operation over Germany in the Ruhr area. Three other crews from 462 Squadron also failed to return from this mission. There is no known grave for Vivian. He is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey, England.
Further details: http://www.462squadron.com/pages/squadron_crews/ely_crew_39.html
Vivian was a member of the Ely family who were one of the first families to buy land and settle on Gympie Terrace in the 1880s. Vivian's mother had a cafe on Gympie Terrace. Ely Park in Noosaville is named for the family.
Vivian's name appears on the Tewantin War Memorial
