LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer John Joseph BOYLE
Service No: 423622
Born: Goulburn NSW, 14 January 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1942
Unit: No. 463 Squadron, RAF Station Waddington, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 463 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND332), Norway, 29 October 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Joseph and Olive Boyle, of Auburn, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Auburn NSW
Remembered: Panel 259, Runnymede Memorial Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 109, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Auburn District Memorial, Auburn NSW
A heavier repeat raid (following the raid of 4 October) made by 244 Lancasters of No. 5 Group on 28th-29th October was a failure. The master bomber ordered crews to descend to altitudes ranging from 5,000 to 8,000 feet, but even so most crews could not see the markers and had to abandon their attack. Many of the 35 crews of Nos. 463 and 467 made repeated orbits in determined efforts to identify the target but only 10 succeeded in bombing. All squadrons were similarly affected and only 51 crews claimed any attack.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Over Europe 1944-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963 – Page 318
ND332 took off from RAF Waddington at 2217 hours on the night 28/29 October 1944 to bomb U-boat pens at Bergen, Norway. The bomb load was 12 x 1000 lb (pound) (450 kg) bombs. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Fifteen aircraft from the
Squadron took part in the raid and one of these ND332 failed to return. Following post war inquiries it was believed that the aircraft crashed in the sea not far from the aiming point. All the crew members had bee killed.
The crew members of ND332 were:
Sergeant Eric Booth (1056832) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Warrant Officer John Joseph Boyle (423622) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Colin Joseph Kenny (422198) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Francis Charles Langdon (428720) (Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer Andrew Thomas Ley (425475) (Pilot)
Sergeant John McAinsh (1344138) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer John McIntyre (1576770) (RAFVR) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/6/765
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line