LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer David Kenneth CALDWELL
Service No: 422408
Born: Goulburn NSW, 19 November 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 May 1942
Unit: No. 547 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Leuchars
Died: Air Operations (No. 547 Squadron Liberator aircraft EW299), off the Norwegian Coast, 27 October 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Archibald Paterson Caldwell and Matilda Mary Caldwell, of Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Goulburn NSW
Remembered: Panel 258, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Goulburn-Mulwaree Honour Roll 1939-1972, Goulburn NSW
At 1604 hours on 27 October 1944 Liberator EW299 took off from Leuchars to carry out an anti-submarine patrol close to the Norwegian coast from the Bergen area to the Skagerrak. The aircraft was due to return at 0345 hours on 28 October 1944 and failed to do so. No signals or messages were received from the aircraft and it was assumed that aircraft and crew members were lost at sea.
The crew members of EW299 were:
Flying Officer Robert MacNaughton Buist (170647) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer David Kenneth Caldwell (422408) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Flying Officer Robert Morse Cooper (J/17156) (RCAF) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Pilot Officer Peter Frank Lewcock (55053) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Thomas Keith Montgomery (J/35549) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Peter Ashley Noel (910694) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Warrant Officer I Robert William Richard Shaw (R/110325) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Warrant Officer Jack William Steed (40585) (RNZAF) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Pilot Officer Gordon Harries Tindall (55920) (RAFVR) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Warrant Officer Henry Charles White (1307039) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air)
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, 166/7/680
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Jay, Alwyn, Endurance; Coastal Command Liberator Operations 1941-5, Banner Books, Maryborough QLD, 4650, 1996