LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Donald Charles Cameron CROMBIE
Service No: 414654
Born: Longreach QLD, 2 March 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941
Unit: No. 514 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Waterbeach
Died: Air Operations: (No. 514 Squadron Lancaster aircraft DS836), Germany, 31 March 1944, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Donald Charles Cameron Crombie and Mildred Ida Lloyd Crombie; husband of Ilma Roslyn Crombie, of Ascot, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 258, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2222 hours on the night of 30 March 1944 Lancaster DS836 took off from Waterbeach for a bombing operation against Nurnberg. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to Base. The bomb load was 1 x 1000 lb (pound) (450 kg) bomb, 4x12x30, 2x16x30, 2x8x30, 6x150x4lbs incendiaries, 9000 rounds of ammunition, and 1906 gallons of petrol sufficient for 9 hours flying time. The anticipated duration of the flight was 6 hours 50 minutes. In 1947 it was established that the aircraft crashed at Eichenhausen which is 4 miles east of Neustadt, Germany at approximately 0100 hours on 31 March 1944. Five crew members were killed in the crash and two became Prisoners of War. The aircraft burned fiercely for several hours and the remains of the five deceased were not recovered.
The crew members of DS836 were:
Pilot Officer Donald Charles Cameron Crombie (414654) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer H G Darby (137547) (RAF) (Air Bomber) PoW
Sergeant Harold Roy Hill (1579675) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant James McGahey (1421544) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant A McPhee (1392000) (RAF) (Navigator) PoW
Sergeant Claude Charles Payne (1134608) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Morris Joseph Tyler (1323748) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Flight Sergeant Mc Phee later stated: “on the night of 30/31 March 1944 due to enemy action our machine was damaged, fire breaking out on the starboard wing. The Captain gave the order to bale out. As I went past, the Captain and the Flight Engineer were attempting to extinguish the starboard engine which was alight, by means of Grovenor switches. The attempt was unsuccessful. The Captain kept telling the crew to hurry up and bale out as he could not hold the plane much longer. As I baled out I saw the starboard wing almost totally ablaze. Later I met Darby the Air Bomber who survived and became a POW, but did not meet any other crew members”.
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, 166/8/409