LEST WE FORGET

Pilot Officer David GRAY

Service No: 402993
Born: Sydney NSW, 13 October 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 November 1940
Unit: No. 50 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Swinderby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 50 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5746), France, 12 August 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Ste-Marie Cemetery, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Grace E. A. Gray, of Neutral Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Glen Innes NSW
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 0213 hours on the morning of 12 August 1942 Lancaster R5746 took off from Swinderby detailed to bomb Le Havre, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed in the target area and all the crew members were killed.

The crew members of R5746 were:

Flight Sergeant Thomas William Sheridan Addison (404571) (Navigator)
Sergeant Joel Bogard (1382214) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer David Gray (402993) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant John Manley Lowe (R/86751) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Geoffrey Browning McCloy (403199) (Second Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant William Paul Taylor (1211090) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Alexander Ashcroft Waldie (1101233) (RAFVR) (First Wireless 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, 163/118/431

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