LEST WE FORGET

Flying Officer Jeffrey John DOWNING

Service No: 418648
Born: Kyneton VIC, 29 September 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 May 1942
Unit: No. 460 Squadron, RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 460 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB812), Lincolnshire, 10 February 1945, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire UK
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Dr. Joseph Horace Downing and Elsie May Downing, of Blackburn, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Kyneton VIC
Remembered: Panel 107, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

Lancaster PB812 took off from RAF Binbrook at 1124 hours on 10 February 1945 on a cross country training flight. The aircraft was flying the last leg of the exercise from Luton to Scunthorpe when it crashed at 3.45pm near the Caythorpe Railway Station near Fulbeck, Lincolnshire. Witnesses in another aircraft saw the aircraft diving almost vertically on fire. The crash was of a severe nature killing all on board.

The crew members of PB812 were:

Flight Sergeant Graeme Mark Dockery (403736) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Jeffrey John Downing (418648) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Richard Albert George Miller (429723) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Frederick Albert Cyril Nesbit-Bell (1587443) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Rhodric Leslie Pope (437951) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Anthony Gatward Robinson (435913) (Air Gunner)

The Bomb Aimer of the crew was in hospital at the time of the accident.

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, 166/10/407

Bibliography:

Firkins, P. C. (Peter Charles) (441386) Strike and Return, Westward Ho Publishing City Beach WA, 1985

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