LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer John Goulburn LANCASTER
Service No: 401847
Born: King Island TAS, 16 January 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 April 1941 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 20 Squadron, Cairns QLD
Died: Air Operations: (No. 20 Squadron Catalina aircraft A24-41), Gulf of Carpentaria, 8 April 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edwin Goulburn Lancaster and Gwendoline Mary Lancaster; husband of Mary Beresford Lancaster, of Deepdene, Victoria. A.F.I.A.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 5, Sydney Memorial, Rookwood NSW
Remembered: Panel 101, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Catalina Base Memorial, Rathmines NSW
Remembered: Rathmines Memorial Bowling Club, Rathmines NSW
On the night of 7 April 1943, Catalina A24-41 was lost in the Gulf of Carpentaria at the estimated position of 15 degrees S 140 degrees E. The crew members of A24-41 were:
Pilot Officer Leonard George Adamson (400549) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Leopold Albert Elkington (411576) (Second Pilot)
Flying Officer James David Fisk (408826) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Clement William Haydon (407237) (Pilot)
Flying Officer John Goulburn Lancaster (401847) (Navigator)
Corporal Noel Clifford Marshall (32072) (Air Gunner)
Corporal William Ivan Meyers (11814) (Air Gunner)
Corporal Malcolm James Mutton (28263) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Lawrence Neild Oppy (412281) (Third Pilot)
Leading Aircraftman James Augustus Scott (22604) (Fitter IIE)
Sergeant Derek Alan Wray (402714) (Wireless Air Gunner)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
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, 166/24/66
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography: