LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Patrick Francis O’DONOHUE
Service No: 426796
Born: Mudgee NSW, 11 November 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 30 July 1942 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 514 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Waterbeach
Died: Air Operations: (No. 514 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ME365), Germany, 6 March 1945, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Kleve, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Michael James O’Donohue and Mary Teresa O’Donohue, of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Ashgrove QLD
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Flight Lieutenant Thomas John O’Donohue DFM (404487)
At 0819 hours on 6 March 1945, Lancaster ME365 took off from Waterbeach detailed to bomb the Wintershall oil plant at Salzbergen, Germany, using G-H Methods (electronic navigation aids). Nothing was hard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team later reported: “the aircraft crashed at Steide which is approximately 30 miles south west of Oznabruck, Germany.” All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of ME365 were:
Flying Officer Leslie Flack (J/29160) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Dennis Heeley (1594663) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Patrick Francis O’Donohue (426796) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Andrew Reilly (2222184) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Frederick Albert Wall (1800217) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant William John Watson (1595208) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Roy Aubry Young (J/37531) (RCAF) (Navigator)
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, 166/31/334