LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Gregory McGowan DOOLAN
Service No: 421008
Born: Quirindi NSW, 11 March 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 December 1941
Unit: No. 218 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Woolfox Lodge
Died: Air Operations: (No. 218 Squadron Stirling aircraft LJ448), France, 21 April 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Asnieres-sur-Oise Communal Cemetery, Val d’Óise, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ambrose Vincent and Kathleen Violet Doolan, of Binnaway, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Coonabarabran NSW
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2103 hours on the night of 20 April 1944 Stirling LJ448 took off from Woolfox Lodge detailed to bomb the railway depot at Chambly, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed on 20 April 1944 at Asnieres-sur-Gise, in the Department of Seineet-Oise, 38kms north east of Versailles. Two crew members were killed, one was taken prisoner and the other four evaded capture.
The crew members of LJ448 were:
Sergeant Cecil Thomas Bishop (1608851) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant Gregory McGowan Doolan (421008) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Arthur John Douglas Levy (422210) (Air Bomber) Evaded capture, Discharged from the RAAF: 15 July 1946
Pilot Officer Francis Herbert O’Neill (420989) (Wireless Air Gunner) Evaded capture, Discharged from the RAAF: 25 September 1945
Flight Sergeant D R Pepall (1416755) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) Evaded capture
Sergeant Clive Robinson (631248) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) PoW
Flying Officer A D Vidler (137146) (RAFVR) (Navigator) Evaded capture
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, 166/102/216