LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Leslie William DUNN
Service No: 414928
Born: Brisbane QLD, 5 September 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 December 1941
Unit: No. 44 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Dunholme Lodge
Died: Air Operations: (No. 44 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND976), Belgium, 22 May 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Leopoldsburg War Cemetery, Limburg, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Vincent Gabriel and Lorna Alice Dunn, of Hendra, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2247 hours on the night of 21 May 1944 Lancaster ND976 took off from Dunholme Lodge detailed to attack Duisberg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A post war report by a Military Research and Enquiry team stated “the aircraft crashed in a field near Doel, Belgium. At the time of the crash part of the Schelde Estuary had been flooded by the Germans, and consequently the aircraft had crashed in water.” Four of the crew members were killed, two became Prisoners of War and one evaded capture and returned safely to UK.
The crew members of ND976 were:
Flight Sergeant D V Airey (1285074) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Pilot Officer Leslie William Dunn (414928) (Pilot)
Sergeant Colin MacFadyen (1550855) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant R O Murray (R/200740) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner) Evaded capture
Sergeant James Southern (941962) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Ivor Bertram Thomas (1184086) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant G J Young (1801860) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner) PoW
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, 166/10/238