LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Kenneth FAIRLIE
Service No: 414011
Born: Maryborough QLD, 21 June 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 July 1941
Unit: No. 97 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Bourne
Died: Air Operations: (No. 97 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED950), Germany, 24 August 1943, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Kenneth and Alma Ethel Fairlie; husband of Lillian Fairlie, of South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Maryborough QLD
Remembered: Panel 191, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2038 hours on the night of 23 August 1943 Lancaster ED950 took off from Bourn to bomb Berlin. The aircraft and crew did not return to base and were reported missing. Investigations after the war established that the aircraft crashed in the vicinity of Doberitz with six of the crew members killed and one taken prisoner. The bodies of three crew members were recovered.
The crew members of ED950 were:
Sergeant C E Addison (1204524) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Sergeant Fred Ball (1198317) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant George Edward William Coombs (1334427) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Albert John Cossins (1310087) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Kenneth Fairlie (414011) (Pilot)
Squadron Leader Joseph Neville Forrest DSO DFC (77913) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Squadron Leader Eric Horace Parrott (119175) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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 A9300, FAIRLIE K