LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Eric William Cuthbert CREED
Service No: 400581
Born: Caulfield VIC, 3 November 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 September 1940
Unit: No. 214 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Stradishall
Died: Air Operations: (No. 214 Squadron Wellington aircraft Z1143), Netherlands, 26 March 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Vriezenveen General Cemetery, Overijssel, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Willie Herbert and Edith Gwennie Creed, of Caulfield, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Caulfield VIC
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wellington Z1143 took off from Stradishall on the night of 26/27 March 1942 detailed to bomb Essen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 2225 hours at Vriezenveen (Overjissel) on the east side of the Overjissel Canal and some 9 kms north north west of Almelo, Netherlands. All on board were killed.
On board Z1143 were:
Sergeant Walter Irvine Christsen (404277) (Observer)
Pilot Officer Eric William Cuthbert Creed (400581) (Pilot)
Sergeant Albert Frederick Mons Emms (1376234) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Captain Alfred Peter Mair (64403) (British Army (Royal Artillery) attached to No. 214 Squadron)
Sergeant William Wykes Robey Norton (400885) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant John Routledge Payne (984801) (RAFVR) (Wireless 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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9300, Creed E W C