LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Esmond Peter HEINRICH
Service No: 403586
Born: Armidale NSW, 1 February 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 February 1941
Unit: No. 50 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Skellingthorpe
Died: Air Operations: (No. 50 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED471), Germany, 17 January 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Kiel War Cemetery, Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Otto Herman Gustav Heinrich and Daisy Georgina Heinrich, of Eastern Creek, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Eastern Creek NSW
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the night of 17 January 1943 Lancaster ED471 took off from Skellingthorpe detailed to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was lost and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of ED471 were:
Sergeant Leslie James Bond (1198997) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Jack Eastwood (1114338) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Iain Fraser (R/4236A) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Robert Harvie (J/8127) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Esmond Peter Heinrich (403586) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer II John Alwin Moore (R/74326) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Arthur Gwilyn Thomas (648382) (RAF) (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 A9300, HEINRICH E P