LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer George Donaldson JEKYLL
Service No: 405914
Born: Emmaville NSW, 22 March 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 June 1941
Unit: No. 102 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Pocklington
Died: Aircraft Accident: (No. 102 Squadron Halifax aircraft LM140), Yorkshire, 9 June 1944, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Ernest and Lillian Olive Jekyll; husband of Audrey Ella Jekyll, of Dalby, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Dalby QLD
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2230 hours on the night of 8 June 1944 Halifax LM140 took off from Pocklington detailed to carry out a gardening (mine-laying) mission. The aircraft crashed at 0355 hours after flying into trees at Home Farm, Seaton Ross, east of the village of Sigglesthorne and 3 miles west south west of Hornsea, Yorkshire. All the crew members were killed. It is possible that the Pilot may have lost control when trying to avoid a collision with a No. 460 Squadron (RAAF) aircraft.
The crew members of LM140 were:
Sergeant John Thomas George Catterwell (1876698) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Cardwell Downs (1459769) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant Vivian Bertram Florent (1449273) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Vincent Phillip Hillrich (J/22201) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer George Donaldson Jekyll (405914) (Pilot)
Flying Officer David Lillington (151193) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Thomas Walker Rodger (1387728) (RAFVR) (Mid Gunner)
An extract from a Court of Inquiry is as follows: “the aircraft had completed a successful night operation and was returning in the early hours of 9 June 1944. At 0346 hours LM140 was instructed by RAF Pocklington control to divert to Catfoss as weather at Pocklington was bad but do not fly below 1,500 feet. The aircraft acknowledged the instruction. At 0355 hours LM140 struck trees while flying normally at a great speed in pulling out of a dive. The cause of the accident was flying too low in bad weather. It was thought that the aircraft which gave every appearance of being pulled out of a dive that may have been the result of sudden avoidance action by the Pilot when meeting another aircraft in the vicinity.”
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, 166/20/51