LEST WE FORGET

Pilot Officer Jack BINSTEAD

Service No: 429099
Born: Oatley NSW, 1 July 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 October 1942
Unit: No. 102 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Pocklington
Died: Air Operations (No. 102 Squadron Halifax aircraft LW141), Germany, 2 November 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frank Henry and Muriel Howe Binstead, of Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Kogarah NSW
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 1633 hours on the night of 2 November 1944 Halifax LW141 took off from Pocklington detailed to bomb Dusseldorf, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at Bickerath presumably as a result of enemy action. Bickerath is about 11 miles south east of Aachen close to the border of Belgium. Six of the crew members were killed and one became a Prisoner of War.

The crew members of LW141 were:

Pilot Officer Jack Binstead (429099) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Russell Harold Lemmon (184135) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW (from Norway)
Sergeant Frederick William Lightowler (2202534) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Henry John Pearmain (429017) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Jacques Andre Picken (428860) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer John Redmond (172972) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant William Wilson (1800221) (RAFVR) (Wireless 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, 166/5/771

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