LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant David Alexander DONALDSON

Service No: 405544
Born: Rockhampton QLD, 23 April 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 April 1941
Unit: No. 160 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 160 Squadron Liberator aircraft AL548), Crete, 28 October 1942, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Suda Bay War Cemetery, Crete
CWGC Additional Information: Son of David Alexander and Hilary Ann Donaldson; husband of Edna Rose Donaldsdon, of Bardon, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Bardon QLD
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

On the night of 27/28 October 1942 Liberator AL548 took off detailed to carry out air operations against Crete. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down near Maleme and all the crew members were killed.

The crew members of AL548 were:

Flight Lieutenant Eric Clarence Cox DFC (401256) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant David Alexander Donaldson (405544) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Carroll Ronald Durrant (40605) (RNZAF) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Harry Victor Ellerker (972580) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant James Albert Gibbons (627801) (RAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Philip Edward Harwood (1264441) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant Richard Scott Lawrence (83741) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Pilot Officer Charles Christopher Reilly (40629) (RNZAF) (Air Gunner)

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
Gunby D (David) and Pelham Temple, Royal Air Force Bomber Losses in the Middle East and Mediterranean, Volume 1 1939-1942, Midland Publishing UK, 2006
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/103/266

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