LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Lewis Charles GOMES
Service No: 420659
Born: Paddington NSW, 13 December 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 November 1941
Unit: No. 172 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Chivenor
Died: Air Operations: (No. 172 Squadron Wellington aircraft MP791), Bay of Biscay area, 29 September 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Lewis and Jessie Alma Gomes, of Auburn, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 192, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Auburn RSL World War II Honour Roll, Auburn NSW
Remembered: Auburn District Memorial, Auburn NSW
Remembered: Parramatta High School Second World War Honour Roll, Parramatta NSW
At 1946 hours on the 28 September 1943 Wellington MP791 took off from Chivenor to carry out an operational patrol over the Bay of Biscay. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of MP791 were:
Flight Sergeant John Hamilton Barr (1366045) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Roger Gordon Cole (14322750 (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Lewis Charles Gomes (420659) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Roy Leonard Harris (1244279) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant David Aubrey Jones (1027009) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Frederick John Jones (657002) (RAF) (Wireless Operator 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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/16/188
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line