LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Warren Henry BUTT
Service No: 436142
Born: Newton NSW, 15 February 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 November 1942 (at Perth WA)
Unit: No. 106 Squadron (RAF), RAF Metheringham, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 106 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB122), France, 14 January 1945, Aged 21 Years
Buried: St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Amos Henry and Jessie Mary Butt; husband of Valerie Mavis Butt, of Five Dock, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Campsie NSW
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
On 14 January, the largest force dispatched by Bomber Command against an oil target was sent to hammer the large oil, synthetic ammonia and methanol plant at Leuna-Merseburg. This installation had suffered 19 USAAF and one RAF attack already since 12th May 1944 and had been almost continuously out of operation as successive raids swamped the frantic efforts of an army of repair workers. The plant itself was considered to be in a basically sound condition and if left alone for two months was assessed as capable of achieving nearly three-quarters of its planned capacity . Previous raids had destroyed pipelines and ancillary services rather than main production units, so this mass raid, mounted in two waves, was intended to create heavier and more lasting destruction .
Each of the Waddington squadrons sent 14 Lancasters in the first wave of 220 aircraft for a satisfactory attack made through thin cloud and haze. Both flak and fighters were active and 9 Lancasters were lost including 4 piloted by Australians.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Over Europe 1944-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963 – Pages 399-400
The four Lancasters piloted by Australians lost as the result of enemy action were as follows.
Lancaster PB122 took off from RAF Metheringham at 1610 hours on the night of 14/15th January 1945, detailed to bomb Merseburg oil refineries near Leuna, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. When homebound, the aircraft flew into the ground at an acute angle and crashed at 2359 hours near Vignacourt, Somme, 16 kms north west of Amiens. All the crew were killed
The crew members of PB122 were:
Flight Sergeant Warren Henry Butt (436142) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant George Fletcher (1595386) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Dennis Samuel Ford (1869393) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Francis Alderson Kendall (1676293) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Donald Robert McIntosh (426234) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Albert Quiney (1581305) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Reginald Hamilton Thomson (710263) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
No. 463 Squadron lost Lancaster NG193 (Flying Officer Ronald Alfred Leonard (408485) (Pilot)) on 15 January 1945.
The other aircraft lost that were piloted by Australians were No. 9 Squadron (RAF) Lancaster NN722 (Flying Officer Kenneth Allan Cook (418227) (Pilot)) and No. 50 Squadron (RAF) Lancaster LM234 (Flying Officer Alexander Hunter Nicol (426979) (Pilot)).
In addition, No. 460 Squadron lost Lancaster ND822 (Pilot Officer Gerald Duncan Walker (423014) (Pilot)) as the result of an accident and this fifth aircraft loss is not accounted for in Herington’s text.
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, 166/6/902