LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Archibald Cattanach DAVIDSON
Service No: 424158
Born: Vancouver, Canada, 25 August 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1942 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 7 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Oakington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 7 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB241), Germany, 6 October 1944, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Alfred Archibald and Helen Ogilvy Davidson, of Mascot, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1502 hours on 6 October 1944 Lancaster PB241 took off from Oakington to attack the Hydrierwerke at Scholven-Buer. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. Post war enquiries by a Missing Research & Enquiry unit established that the aircraft crashed at Wissel on 6 October 1944 presumably as a result of enemy activity. Two crew members had been killed and five were Prisoners of War.
The crew members of PB241 were:
Flying Officer R G Beaune (J/99065) (RCAF) (Pilot) PoW
Flight Sergeant Archibald Cattanach Davidson (424158) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant F G Etheridge (R/182140) (RCAF) (Navigator) PoW
Sergeant J G Forster (10787097) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Pilot Officer Walter Alexander MacWilliam (J/92159) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant K I R Milligan (J/28254) (RCAF) (Bomb Aimer) PoW
Flight Sergeant W H Sweet (1651741) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) PoW
In a PoW report it was stated that Flight Sergeant MacWilliam was seen to bale out but that the fate of Flight Sergeant Davidson was not known.
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, 166/9/418