LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Leo Patrick CURTIN
Service No: 432953
Born: Murrumburrah NSW, 18 December 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 30 January 1943
Unit: No. 103 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Elsham Wolds
Died: Air Operations (No. 103 Squadron Lancaster aircraft RA515), Germany, 23 February 1945, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leo Michael and Mary Irine Rose Curtin, of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
Roll of Honour: Canberra ACT
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster RA515 took off from Elsham Wolds at 1546 hours on the night of 23 February 1945 detailed to bomb Pforzheim, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research & Enquiry team reported: The aircraft crashed on a hill at Eutingen, which is approximately 2 miles north east of Pforzheim.” Seven of the crew members were killed and one became a Prisoner of War.
The crew members of RA515 were:
Pilot Officer William John Milne Baillie (423585) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 30 October 1945
Pilot Officer Leo Patrick Curtin (432953) (Navigator)
Flight Lieutenant Reginald Frederick Dobson (177257) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Alan Noel Fletcher (420554) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Richard Nolan (1890587) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Anthony Keith Parker (1850978) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Derek James Reeves (1890497) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Warrant Officer Ernest Edwin Standing (1335462) (RAFVR) (Second 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 A703, 660/7/432953
Bibliography:
Charlwood, D.E.C. (Donald Ernest Cameron) (408794) No Moon Tonight (Angus and Robertson 1956), Penguin Ringwood VIC, 3134, 1991