LEST WE FORGET

Air Operations: (No. 460 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LL951), Netherlands, 22 May 1944

Date: 21-22 May 1944
Target: Duisburg
Total Force: Dispatched – 532, Attacking – 488
RAAF Force: No. 460 Dispatched – 21, Attacking – 21; No. 463 Dispatched – 15, Attacking – 13; No. 467 Dispatched – 16, Attacking – 15
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 2,220
Total Aircraft Lost: 29
RAAF Aircraft Lost: No. 460 – 1; No. 463 – 2; No. 467 – 1

Except for a small attack on the Berleit motor vehicle works at Lyon on 1st-2nd May, the RAAF squadrons concentrated on tactical targets until 21st-22nd May, when Ruhr targets were again bombed, partly for the intrinsic value of impeding German production, but with the important corollary of splitting enemy air defences between German industries and the French invasion area. That night Nos. 460, 463 and 467 all attacked Duisburg, causing especially heavy damage in the industrial suburb of Hoschfeld.

Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Over Europe 1944-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963 – Pages 46, 48

Lancaster LL951 took off from RAF Binbrook at 2229 hours on the night of 21/22nd May 1944 to bomb Duisberg, Germany. The bomb load 1 x 4000 lb (pound) (1,800 kg) bomb, 130 x 30 lb (14 kg) and 777 x 4 lb (2 kg) incendiaries. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. Post war it was established that the aircraft was shot down near Zundert (Noord-Brabant) a large village 17 kms south of Breda astride the main road between Breda in Holland and the Belgian port of Antwerp. The five crew members killed are buried in the Zundert Protestant Church Cemetery, Netherlands.

The crew members of LL951 were:

Flight Sergeant Ronald Ralph Bunker (1336293) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Harold Ralph Elsbury (1852639) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant James Herkes (1561487) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant William H Leaney (1182065) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Pilot Officer Reginald Eugene McDougall (J/35148) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Eugene O’Donoghue (151971) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer) PoW
Sergeant William Francis O’Neill (1853904) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)

No. 463 Squadron lost Lancaster ME580 (Flying Officer Kenneth Edgar Archay (426941) (Pilot)) on 22 May 1944.

No. 463 Squadron lost Lancaster ME571 (Pilot Officer Murray Edmund Pratten (416994) (Pilot)) on 22 May 1944.

No. 467 Squadron lost Lancaster ED657 (Flying Officer Robert Maxwell Harris (401690) (Pilot)) on 22 May 1944.

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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll

Bibliography:

Firkins, P. C. (Peter Charles) (441386) Strike and Return, Westward Ho Publishing City Beach WA, 1985

Book Now Book Now