LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Charlie EDDY MBE
From Australia serving in the Royal New Zealand Air Force
Service No: 39003 (RNZAF)
Born: Hamilton VIC, 31 July 1914
Enlisted in the RNZAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 115 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Witchford, Cambridgeshire
Awarded the Order of the British Empire – Member (MBE)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 115 Squadron Lancaster I aircraft LL867), Cambridgeshire, 19 April 1944, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Matthew Ernest and Isobel Eddy, of Hamilton, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
At 2243 hours on 18 April 1944 Lancaster LL867 took off from Witchford to attack railway yards at Rouen, France. On return to base, and while preparing to land, the aircraft was caught by an intruder and shot down at 0348 hours near the airfield. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of LL867 were:
Warrant Officer Henry Bennis (R/178351) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Charlie Eddy MBE (39003) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Alfred Frank Langridge (1812710) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Peter John Edward Maddox (1334594) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant William Leslie Murphy (2206546) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Harold Edward George Pugh (658462) (RAF) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer Albert Smith (132712) (RAFVR) (Observer)
References:
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 5 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1944, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1997
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record B4747 Eddy/Charlie