LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Stanley Brown ELLIOTT
Service No: 412501
Born: Dublin, Ireland, 6 April 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 July 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 103 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Elsham Wolds
Died: Air Operations: (No. 103 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED528), Germany, 26 June 1943, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Samuel and Jane Elliott, of Cremome, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: St Peter’s Anglican Church World War 2 Honour Roll, Cremorne NSW
Lancaster ED528 took-off from Elsham Wolds at 2242 hours on the night of 25 June 1943 detailed to bomb Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at Bechtrup, 5 kms north of Ludinghausen, Germany.
Four of the crew members were killed and three became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of ED528 were:
Sergeant Charles Alfred Britton (1431391) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant James Brown (1187561) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Allan Ernest Egan (411886) (Pilot) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 10 January 1946
Pilot Officer Stanley Brown Elliott (412501) (Navigator)
Sergeant Harold Alfred Horrell (1352833) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant J S Johnston (569165) (RAF) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flight Sergeant William Miller (412467) (Air Bomber) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 3 June 1946
Pilot Officer Egan later stated “We were detailed to be in the first wave of the attack on the target. We were on ETA on the last leg of the run into the target but no flares had been dropped by the Path Finder Force at the specified time. I decided to do a circuit and was two thirds of the way around when I saw flares go down. There was no sign of flak or searchlights. The WOP was in the astro dome and reported seeing the flares. Almost immediately there was a heavy bump underneath us and both the port engines burst into flames and the aircraft started to turn to port. I could not correct the turn as the controls were useless. I ordered bale out and the Air Bomber reported that he could not open the escape hatch. The intercom must have gone dead as did not hear any more but saw the Engineer go forward into the nose. I then got out of my seat to warn the WOP and the Nav. I do not remember any more until I was falling through the air. The aircraft must have blown up in about 30
seconds at 19,000 feet. I did not see the aircraft after except for fire on the ground. We crashed in the village of Bechtrup near Ludinghausen. A German flak officer claimed to have shot us down with his first shell. I did not see any tracers from fighter guns at all. Miller was attacked by a fighter twice on the way down. It is possible that both gunnersdid not get out but were killed by the fighter. I can only presume that when the Nav and WOP heard the Bomb Aimer say the hatch was jammed they tried to get to the back door. They would not have had time to do that before the plane blew up.”
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, 166/11/53
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Charlwood, D.E.C. (Donald Ernest Cameron) (408794) No Moon Tonight (Angus and Robertson 1956), Penguin Ringwood VIC, 3134, 1991