LEST WE FORGET

Pilot Officer Geoffrey Grant FOULKES

Service No: 420381
Born: North Sydney NSW, 9 November 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 November 1941
Unit: No. 35 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Graveley
Died: Air Operations: (No. 35 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND759), Lake Constance (Bodensee), 28 April 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Vevey (St Martin’s) Cemetery, Switzerland
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Albert Edward and Louise MacBeth Foulkes; husband of Betty Foulkes, of Cremorne, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Cremorne NSW
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 2221 hours on the night of 27 April 1944 Lancaster ND759 took off from Graveley to bomb Friedrichshafen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft was hit by either anti-aircraft fire or cannon fire from a night fighter and ditched at 0230 hours on the 28 April 1944 in Lake Constance. Sergeant Brereton and Pilot Foulkes baled out, but the rest of the crew were unable to follow due to their parachutes being damaged. One crew member was killed, one taken prisoner, one evaded capture and four were interned in Switzerland before crossing into France.

The crew members of ND759 were:

Flight Sergeant D P Balmer (1504649) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) Interned in Switzerland
Flight Sergeant Murray Thomas Bartle (415753) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner) Interned in Switzerland, Discharged from the RAAF: 11 October 1945
Sergeant Alfred Stewart Brereton (526004) (RAF) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flight Sergeant Noel Charles William Davis (413835) (Bomb Aimer) Interned in Switzerland, Discharged from the RAAF: 13 July 1945
Pilot Officer Geoffrey Grant Foulkes (420831) (Navigator)
Sergeant I Graham (1534921) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) Interned in Switzerland
Warrant Officer Robert Graham Peter DFC (415272) (Pilot) Evaded capture, Discharged from the RAAF: 12 March 1947

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, 166/14/196

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