LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Leslie Joseph JOHNSON
Service No: 15467
Born: Sydney NSW, 13 December 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 June 1940
Unit: No. 156 Squadron (RAF), RAF Warboys, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 156 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB179), Germany, 2 December 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Joseph William and Mary Frances Johnson, of Redfern, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 191, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster JB179 of No. 156 Squadron took off from RAF Station Warboys at 1710 hours on 2 December 1943 to bomb Berlin. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft which did not return to base. In a 1949 report by a Missing Research & Enquiry team it was stated that the aircraft crashed 3 kms north east of Colbitz between 2000 and 2100 hours on 2 December 1943. German documents revealed that the aircraft was shot down.
The crew members of JB179 were:
Sergeant Bernard Carroll (1484120) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant William Robertson Clarke (R/147572) (RCAF) (Bomb Aimer)
Pilot Officer Leslie Joseph Johnson (15467) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant James Gordon Redfern (1035035) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant James Richmond (1059399) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Flight Sergeant Walter Robert Tinman (422012) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Wood (2216037) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/21/100