LEST WE FORGET

Pilot Officer Laurence David HEATH

Service No: 423305
Born: Tamworth NSW, 28 July 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 June 1942
Unit: No. 166 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Kirmington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 166 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PD226), Baltic Sea, 30 August 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George and Florence Catherine Heath, of Curlewis, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Gunnedah NSW
Remembered: Panel 258, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Curlewis War Memorial, Curlewis NSW
Remembered: Gunnedah Cenotaph, Gunnedah NSW
Remembered: Remembrance Grove, Gunnedah NSW

Brother of Flight Sergeant Jeffrey Alan Heath MID (412440)

Lancaster PD226 was one of five Squadron aircraft detailed to carry out a mine laying sortie in the Baltic, on the night of 29/30 August 1944. Opposition from the enemy was not on a large scale, but two of the aircraft were engaged in combat by enemy night fighters. PD 226 did not return to base and nothing was heard of the aircraft or crew. In a 1949 report it was confirmed that the body of Flight Sergeant Solomons was washed ashore in the vicinity of Brakne Hoby, Sweden. It was assumed that the aircraft had crashed into the sea and the remainder of the crew members were lost at sea.

The crew members of PD226 were:

Sergeant Thomas Rhys Llewellyn Griffiths (1339216) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer Laurence David Heath (423305) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant William Warren Hiscock (418275) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Leslie George Lewis (1850225) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant William Fred Noble (747740) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Simon Stanley Solomons (432281) (Navigator)
Sergeant George Albert Vaughan (1352859) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper 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, 166/17/720
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line

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