LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Nicholas DAN
Service No: 403561
Born: Redfern NSW, 20 August 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 February 1941
Unit: No. 460 Squadron, RAF Station Breighton, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 460 Squadron Wellington aircraft Z1463), Netherlands, 10 August 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Hengelo (Gelderland) General Cemetery, Gelderland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Elias and Marie Dan, of Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Randwick NSW
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Date: 10 August 1942
Target: Osnabruck
Total Force: Dispatched – 192, Attacking – 166
RAAF Force: No. 460 Squadron Dispatched – 12, Attacking – 12
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 457
Total Aircraft Lost: 6
RAAF Aircraft Lost: 1
Damage inflicted by the two Osnabruck raids (second raid August 17-18, 1942) was small in relation to the effort expended, but it was useful in that it spread the threat of bombing over a new area.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943,
Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Page 333
Wellington Z1463 took off from RAF Breighton at 0010 hours on 10 August 1942 to attack Osnabruck, Germany. The bomb load was 2 x 1000 lb (pound) (450 kg) and 3 x 500 lb (225 kg) bombs. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Post war enquiries established that the aircraft crashed at Hengelo near Zutphen, Netherlands, and that all the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of Z1463 were
Sergeant Nicholas Dan (403561) (Bomb Aimer) *
Flight Sergeant James Alexander Finlay (403175) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Stephen Bryan Goord (39099) (RNZAF) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Allan Ponton (401080) (Observer)
Flight Sergeant Kevin Argyle Smith (402832) (Air Gunner) *
* These members may have been from No 27 Operational Training Unit RAF but are listed as members of No. 460 Squadron by Chorley and by Firkins.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command losses of the Second World War, Volume 3 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1942, Midland Counties Publications, Leicester, 1994
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, 163/100/167
Further Reading:
Firkins, P. C. (Peter Charles) (441386) Strike and Return, Westward Ho Publishing City Beach WA, 1985