LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant David Garnet DUNCOMBE

Service No: 422459
Born: Wee Waa NSW, 5 April 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 May 1942
Unit: No. 50 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Skellingthorpe
Died: Air Operations: (No. 50 Squadron Lancaster aircraft DV384), Germany, 23 March 1944, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of David Goldsmith Duncombe and Ada Mary Duncombe, of Quirindi, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Quirindi NSW
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 1859 hours on the night of 22 March 1944 Lancaster DV384 took off from Skellingthorpe detailed to bomb Frankfurt, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft crashed near the village of Obermelbecke, 3 kms north north east of Grevenbruck, Germany. All the crew members had been killed.

The crew members of DV384 were:

Sergeant Edward James Cave (1671657) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Joseph Lloyd Dobbyn DFC (J/18666) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant David Garnet Duncombe (422459) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant John Robert Jackson (1459023) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Norman Jennings (1576042) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Ronald Lloyd Mason (1816001) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Greenwood Gee Ridyard (654713) (RAF) (Wireless 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
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/10/200

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