LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Douglas Alfred CARTER
Service No: 410145
Born: Northcote VIC, 3 November 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 December 1941
Unit: No. 7 Squadron (RAF), RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 7 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND 557), Germany, 15 March 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter Mathew and Ellen Myrtle Carter; husband of Thora Cecilia Carter, of Bournemouth, Hampshire, England
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster ND 557 took off from RAF Oakington at 1939 hours on the night of 15 March 1944 to bomb Stuttgart, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Captured German documents indicated that the aircraft crashed at 2300 hours on 15 March
1944 at Tannheim near Donaueshingen, Germany, and the aircraft exploded on impact killing all the crew members.
The crew members of ND 557 were:
Pilot Officer Douglas Alfred Carter (410145) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Kenneth Charles Dyer (422462) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Peter Hanson Hamby (170729) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant George Alfred Johnston (418535) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Ian Hay Nicholson (J/21172) (RCAF) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Hoskin Peter Riddle (1587493) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Reginald George Ryder (1238672) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Roy Stanley Smith (417527) (Rear Gunner)
The RAF and RCAF members of the crew were from of No. 218 Squadron (RAF).
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, 166/7/442