LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Albert Paulton GREENFIELD DFC
Service No: 414674
Born: Brisbane QLD, 27 July 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941
Unit: No. 61 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Skellingthorpe
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), 1 March 1946
Died: Air Operations: (No. 61 Squadron Lancaster aircraft RF121), Germany, 9 April 1945, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Becklingen War Cemetery, Soltau, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Percival Warren Greenfield and Agnes Greenfield, of Clayfield, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
DFC Citation: Flight Lieutenant Greenfield has successfully completed numerous sorties during his first tour of operations and has participated in attacks against enemy oil plants and the Dortmund-Ems Canal. In January 1945 during a night attack against Munich the starboard outer engine of his aircraft failed whilst en route to the target. Nevertheless he successfully completed the sortie and flew the aircraft safely back to base. Throughout his tour of active operations against the enemy, Flight Lieutenant Greenfield has always displayed great courage and devotion to duty. (London Gazette 1 March 1946, Page 1180)
At 1445 hours on 9 April 1945 Lancaster RF121 took off from Skellingthorpe to bomb oil storage tanks at Hamburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down and five of the crew members were killed and two were taken prisoner.
The crew members of RF121 were:
Sergeant W J Fraser (1566457) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flying Officer William J A Gibb (187911) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant S D F Godley (1881110) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner) PoW
Flight Lieutenant Albert Paulton Greenfield DFC (414674) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant William John Haddon (1491704) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant John Robert King (612231) (RAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Victor Patrick Smith (196338) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
In a letter to Flight Lieutenant Greenfield’s parents, Flight Sergeant Godley stated “We bombed Hamburg and coming out of the target area we were attacked by two night fighters. I did manage to get one, but the other one got us, and there were only three alive after that attack, the Bomb
Aimer, Engineer and myself, and we were burning pretty badly by that time. We had to get out and we nearly left it too late, as we were awaiting orders from Paul, but no orders came.” The aircraft crashed at Kirchwistedt near Hamburg.”
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, 166/16/618