LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Brian Arthur KELLY
Service No: 425314
Born: Gympie QLD, 6 October 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 February 1942
Unit: No. 158 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Lissett
Died: Air Operations: (No. 158 Squadron Halifax aircraft HR738), Germany, 1 September 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Hanover War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Francis Kelly and Mary Cecilia Kelly, of Southport, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Gympie QLD
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Pilot Officer Charles Dermot Kelly (404658)
At 2012 hours on the night of 31 August 1943 Halifax HR738 took off from Lissett detailed to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at Dumberg between Bad Lipperinge and Altenbeken, two towns 8 kms north east of Paderborn. Five of the crew members were killed and two became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of HR738 were:
Sergeant Jack Davis (1352674) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant William Kidd (1096827) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Brian Arthur Kelly (422314) (Mid Gunner)
Sergeant R A Lloyd (1386538) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Sergeant Cecil Hill Macaulay (656568) (RAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant James Francis Maxwell (1432779) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant R J H Prince (1584941) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
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, 166/22/112