LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Stanley Herbert FITZHENRY
Service No: 410475
Born: Richmond VIC, 13 August 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 30 January 1942
Unit: No. 405 Squadron (RCAF), RAF Station Gransden Lodge
Died: Air Operations: (No. 405 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB477), Germany, 2 January 1945, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Herbert Arthur and Helen Beatrice Fitzhenry, of East Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Hawthorn VIC
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 2 January 1945, Lancaster PB477 took off from Gransden Lodge at 1558 hours on the afternoon of 2 January 1945, detailed to attack Nurnberg, Germany. The aircraft was due back at 2200 hours but nothing was heard from the aircraft and it failed to return. A Missing Research and Enquiry team reported: “Eyewitness at Rohrau reported that about 1900 hours on 2 January 1945 they saw a Lancaster fly in from the west and crash and burn near the village. The aircraft crashed at Rohrau, 16 miles south west of Stuttgart, Germany.” Five of the crew were killed, and two became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of PB477 were:
Squadron Leader Nathan Crawford DFC (J/12954) (RCAF) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Lieutenant Eric Cecil Duke DFM (118147) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Stanley Herbert Fitzhenry (410475) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Gerald Edward Geeves (J/19058) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Wing Commander Kenneth John Lawson DSO & Bar DFC (82728) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer I D G Plyley (R/108467) (RCAF) (Air Gunner) PoW
Sergeant S Rhodes (1680670) (RAFVR) (Air 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, 166/13/376