LEST WE FORGET

Flying Officer Leslie KIDD

Service No: 414698
Born: Gympie QLD, 20 October 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941
Unit: No. 7 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Oakington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 7 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND460), France, 7 August 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Bolbec Communal Cemetery, Seine-Maritime, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Edward and Ellen Kidd; husband of Margaret Ann McNair Kidd, of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Gympie QLD
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 2208 hours on the night of 7 August 1944 Lancaster ND460 took off from Oakington to bomb enemy strong points in the battle area in support of the British Army in Normandy, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. Post war it was established that the aircraft crashed in flames near Bolbec an industrial town on the north coast of France on the Le Havre to Amiens road. All the crew members had been killed.

The crew members of ND460 were:

Warrant Officer William Aspey DFM (1437583) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer James Francis Forbes (1348902) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer George Horsburgh DFM (155866) (RAF) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Philip Alan Ingrey MID (55287) (RAF) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Leslie Kidd (414698) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Robert George Law (1246248) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer Dennis McGrevy DFM (569429) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Samuel McNabney (164928) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)

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, 166/22/303

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