LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Lawrence Arthur DAVIS
Service No: 8905
Born: Burnie TAS, 29 August 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 February 1940 (at RAAF Station Laverton VIC)
Unit: No. 463 Squadron, RAF Station Waddington, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 463 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LM223), North West Europe, 23 September 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Thomas Davis and Amy Annie Davis; husband of Edna Florence Davis, of Ulverstone, Tasmania, Australia
Roll of Honour: Burnie TAS
Remembered: Panel 260, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 109, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Bomber Command showed interest in the proposal to attack the heavily used internal waterway system of Germany, especially the Dortmund-Ems canal which linked with the Mitteland canal to provide a direct passage from the Ruhr to central and eastern Germany. The Dortmund-Ems canal was breached on 23rd-24th September.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Over Europe 1944-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963 – Pages 311
Lancaster LM223 took off from RAF Waddington at 1907 hours on the night of 23/24th September 1944 to bomb the aqueduct over the Dortmund-Ems canal. The bomb load was 14 x 1000 lb (pound) (450 kg) bombs. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to
base. Seventeen aircraft from the Squadron took part in the raid and two of these including LM223 failed to return. Post war searches and enquiries found no trace of the missing aircraft or crew members.
The crew members of LM223 were:
Flight Sergeant Lawrence Arthur Davis (8905) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Walter George McDonald Geikie (404416) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Norman George Hurst (432190) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Anthony Ledger (1593894) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Cyril McCall (434227) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Sydney John Staples (422310) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer John Buxton Stinson (420783) (Bomb Aimer)
No. 463 Squadron lost Lancaster LM309 (Flight Sergeant Arthur Wilfred Haselhurst (418273) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)) on 23 September 1944.
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/9/411