LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Donald Atherton IRVING
Service No: 402359
Born: Brisbane QLD, 10 January 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 August 1940 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 77 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Leeming
Died: Air Operations: (No. 77 Squadron Whitley aircraft Z6943), North Sea, 27 February 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ernest Irving, and of Dorothy Lucy Harriet Irving, of Innisfail, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 108, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the night of 27 February 1942 Whitley Z6943 took off from Leeming to attack enemy cruisers at Wilhemshaven, Germany. Nothing further was heard of the aircraft or crew after take- off. In 1948 it was reported that after extensive searches and interrogation of German authorities of the land in the area from Wilhemshaven to Emden, no trace of wreckage or of the crew members could be found. The crew members were recorded as lost at sea.
The crew members of Z6943 were:
Sergeant Hubert Waddy Blackmore (1195088) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant Donald Atherton Irving (402359) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Lewis Stanley Price (930432) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Peter William Lindsey Strachan (580467) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Donald Unsworth (1057891) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/37/17