LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Ainsworth LAING
Service No: 429583
Born: Dalby QLD, 6 May 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF:
Unit: No. 158 Squadron (RAF), RAF Lissett, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 158 Squadron Halifax aircraft MZ337), Germany, 13 September 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ainsworth Gaydon Laing and Annie May Laing, of Somerset Dam, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Esk QLD
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Flight Sergeant Laing survived the loss of No. 51 Squadron Halifax MZ581 (Flying Officer Henry Anthony Jowett (418427) (Pilot)) on 21 July 1944.
Halifax MZ337 took off from RAF Lissett at 1552 hours on 13 September 1944, detailed to bomb Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and broke up. Five of the crew members were killed and two became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of MZ337 were:
Sergeant John Hargrave Boocock (1686264) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Ernest William Henry Barker (156282) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flying Officer R H Fox (153715) (RAF) (Air Bomber) PoW
Flight Sergeant Ainsworth Laing (429583) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant James Lewis Mitchell (1388627) (RAFVR) (Mid Gunner)
Sergeant T W Roberts (1595067) (RAF) (Rear Gunner) PoW
Flying Officer Robert Lorne Sleeth (J/86169) (RCAF) (Pilot)
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, 166/24/497