LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant John Charles DeBurgh DOW

Service No: 418088
Born: Castlemaine VIC, 29 January 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 April 1942
Unit: No. 207 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Spilsby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 207 Squadron Lancaster aircraft DV423), North Sea, 23 October 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John and Mary Edgell Dow, of Clapham, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 192, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

On 23 October 1943 Lancaster DV423 took off from Spilsby to carry out an operational mission, but was forced to land in the sea due to lack of petrol. The aircraft ditched in the dark position 53.39N 002.15W. All the crew were safely picked up by a British destroyer, but nothing was seen of Flight Sergeant Dow after he was washed away from survival dinghy after the ditching. The destroyer searched for Dow for 1.5 hours, and aircraft searched the next day, but he was not found. In 1949 it was recorded that Flight Sergeant Dow had lost his life at sea.

The crew members of DV423 were:

Sergeant D C Beech (1235321) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant S C Burleigh (1711577) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant John Charles DeBurgh Dow (418088) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Gilbert James Duggin DFC (417462) (Air Gunner) Discharged from the RAAF: 2 October 1945
Pilot Officer J A Kelly (156718) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant S R Lambert (1294523) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant M McNeill (R/137873) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)

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, 166/10/128

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