LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Harold Leslie CROYDON
Service No: 402229
Born: Waverley NSW, 3 July 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 July 1940
Unit: No. 158 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Driffield
Died: Air Operations (No. 158 Squadron Wellington aircraft Z8511), Germany, 9 April 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Hamburg Cemetery, Hamburg, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Leslie and Amy Florence Croydon, of Bondi Junction. New South Wales. Australia
Roll of Honour: Waverley NSW
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Commonwealth Bank of Australia Honour Rolls, Sydney NSW
At 2205 hours on the night of 8 April 1942 Wellington Z8511 took off from Driffield detailed to bomb Hamburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at 0110 hours on Luneberg Heath, possibly near Winsen on the River
Luhe, 18 kms north west of Luneberg. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of Z8511 were:
Sergeant Eric Clement Bratt (1001423) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant James William Cornthwaite (1379128) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Harold Leslie Croydon (402229) (Navigator)
Sergeant Roy Staley (959164) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Henry Wisher (1376449) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
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, 166/26/196
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line