LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant William Douglas HENDERSON

Service No: 404904
Born: Dalby QLD, 20 May 1910
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 December 1940
Unit: No. 1654 Conversion Unit (RAF), Detachment RAF Station Swinderby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 1654 Conversion Unit Lancaster aircraft R5843), Germany, 17 January 1943, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Sage War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Albert and Catherine Margaret Henderson; husband of Queenie Kathleen Henderson, of Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Queanbeyan and District Honour Roll, Queanbeyan NSW

At 1647 hours on the night of the 17 January 1943, Lancaster R5843 took off from Swinderby detailed to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft was shot down and crashed at 2213 hours at Heisfelderfield and all the crew members had been killed.

The crew members of R5843 were:

Sergeant Bernard Hannaway (1511886) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant William Douglas Henderson (404904) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Leslie Jenkinson (139033) (RAFVR) (Instructor Pilot)
Sergeant Phillip Joseph Newman (1146100) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Fred Nuttall (655641) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Fred Raithby Scargall (1109741) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Harry Reginald Wakley (1410336) (RAFVR) (Observer)

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, 166/17/22
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line

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