LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Edward Henry FINCH
Service No: 406674
Born: Beechworth VIC, 8 June 1908
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 March 1941 (at Perth WA)
Unit: No. 149 Squadron (RAF), RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk
Died: Air Operations: Radar Bombing Offensive (No. 149 Squadron Stirling aircraft EF343), Netherlands, 5 May 1943, Aged 34 Years
Buried: Wimbritseradeel (Ijpecolgsa) General Cemetery, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Willie Marome Finch and Eliza Jane Finch; husband of Mary Ruth Finch, of Mt. Barker, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Manjimup WA
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Stirling EF343 took off from RAF Lakenheath at 2215 hours on the night of 4 May 1943, detailed to bomb Dortmund, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 0018 hours on the 5th May 1943 near Ijpecolsga (Friesland) on the Woudsend to Rijs road, and all the crew were killed.
The crew members of EF343 were:
Flying Officer Walter Edwin Davey (120435) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Edward Henry Finch (406674) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant George John Charles Hall (1396863) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Donald Richard Higgs (1291126) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Charles Willis Eric Leach (345474) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant James Joseph O’Neill (1033308) (RAFVR) (Second Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Thomas Cuthbert Timney (125606) (RAF) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Richard Frederick Whitaker (1384532) (RAFVR) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/13/47
Bibliography:
Gaston, Bruce DFC (406646), Harry Horner DFC OAM (406595), Raymond Storer (406666) (Editors), Aircrew for the Duration: of and by members of RAAF EATS Courses 10, 11, 12 & 13, Gaston Horner and Storer, Nedlands WA, 1990