LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Donald James IRVING
Service No: 420950
Born: Naremburn NSW, 1 March 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 December 1941
Unit: No. 101 Squadron (RAF), RAF Ludford Magna, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 101 Squadron Lancaster LL861), Germany, 31 March 1944, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Oliver Thomas Irving, and of Florence Helena Irving, of Bondi, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: North Bondi NSW
Remembered: Panel 258, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Concord RSL Memorial Court, Concord West NSW
Lancaster LL861 of 101 Squadron took off from RAF Station Ludford Magna at 2211 hours on 30 March 1944 to carry out a bombing operation against Nurnberg. The aircraft was due back at Base at 0545 hours on 31 March, but nothing further was heard from the aircraft after take off. In 1949 it was established from an examination of German documents that the aircraft crashed at Lauterbach, 11 kms north east of Eisenbach, Germany, in the province of Thuringe, and all the crew of eight had lost their lives. Seven aircraft from the Squadron were lost on this mission.
The crew members of LL861 were:
Flight Sergeant Walter Joseph Adam (410934) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Norman Grenfell Huggett (413771) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Donald James Irving (420950) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer Stanley George Richard King (412542) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Ralph Frank Litchfield (J/25734) (RCAF) (Special Duties, Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant John Bede Newman (426999) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Alfred Noske (427016) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Frank Phillips (1581809) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Noske and Flight Sergeant Newman are buried in the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany. The other six crew members have no known graves and their names are commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing, Runnymede, Surrey, UK.
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/19/46
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line