LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Sydney Raymond BACON
Service No: 423037
Born: Sydney NSW, 12 November 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 June 1942
Unit: No. 186 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Stradishall
Died: Air Operations (No. 186 Squadron Lancaster aircraft RA533), Germany, 4 April 1945, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Stephen Frederick and Una Mavis Bacon, of Cremorne, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Mosman NSW
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1847 hours on the night of 4 April 1945 Lancaster RA533 took off from Stradishall detailed to bomb the Leuna synthetic oil plant at Merseburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. When outbound, at 2020 hours RA533 collided with a No. 115 Squadron Lancaster HK555. Wreckage from both aircraft was scattered between the Waldof Elgershausen and Greitfenthal, 7 kms south of Sinn, Germany. Six of the crew members of RA533 and all of the crew members of HK555 were killed.
The crew members of RA533 were:
Flight Sergeant Sydney Raymond Bacon (423037) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Albert Richard Baker (2210627) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant George Ballinger (1592037) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer A E Bartlett (139906) (RAF) (Navigator) Injured
Flying Officer James Arthur Gordon Beck DFC (408434) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer William George Evans (196117) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Peter McNiven (1826326) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
The crew members of HK555 were:
Flying Officer Albert Edward Adams (149989) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant John Thomas Buckley (1690938) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Wilfrid Gordon Carr (1683518) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Eric Laurence Luxton (J/94582) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Charles Edward Marchant (1604373) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant Thomas Anthony O’Halloran (183181) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer Gordon Reginald Saville (428798) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Ernest Sheavills (651465) (RAF) (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, 166/5/1048