LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant James Ian GAMBLE
Service No: 421721
Born: Kent, England, 20 April 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 March 1942 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 467 Squadron, RAF Station Waddington, Lincolnshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 467 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LM552), Irish Sea, 11 June 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas William and Mabel Gamble; husband of Evelyn Florence Gamble, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 260, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 110, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster LM552 took off from RAF Waddington on the night of 11/12th June 1944 and failed to return from a night cross country training flight. No trace of the missing aircraft or crew was found. Part of the exercise involved flying over the Irish Sea. The crew had only arrived at the Squadron the previous day, and LM552 was a fairly new operational aircraft.
The crew members of LM552 were:
Flying Officer Dudley Victor Black (410299) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant James Ian Gamble (421721) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant John Hodgson (1625672) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Peter Kenneth Horton (175003) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Douglas George Ledsam (423017) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Alfred Allan Marrow (1425192) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Hunter Towns (2220094) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
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, 166/15/268