LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Arthur Lloyd CARMICHAEL
Service No: 420537
Born: Tamworth NSW, 25 November 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941
Unit: No. 51 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Snaith
Died: Air Operations (No. 51 Squadron Halifax aircraft LV778), Germany, 24 February 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Russell Carmichael and Ellen Carmichael, of Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Tamworth NSW
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1825 hours on the night of 24 February 1944 Halifax LV778 took off from Snaith detailed to bomb Schweinfurt, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. Captured German documents later revealed that the aircraft crashed near Sollbach/ Bottweartal and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of LV778 were:
Flight Sergeant Leslie Noel Atkinson (431015) (RNZAF) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant John Francis Brown (1163091) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant John Arthur Lloyd Carmichael (420537) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Ronald Jack Colley (1802370) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant John Cameron Harthill (951579) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Douglas Jackson (159059) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Frederick George Langford (J/85119) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer Francis Richard Rohrer (159455) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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, 166/7/423