LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Keith Oswald LANGHAM
Service No: 432823
Born: Marrickville NSW, 4 May 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 30 January 1943
Unit: No. 12 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Wickenby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 12 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ME316), Germany, 4 February 1945, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Oscar Alfred and Lucy May Langham, of Earlswood, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Marrickville NSW
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster ME316 took off from Wickenby at 1641 hours on the night of 3/4 February 1945 to bomb the Prosper Benzol Plant at Bottrop, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft had crashed on the Krefeld Racecourse, Germany, and all the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of ME316 were:
Flight Sergeant William Blyth (1250558) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Harry Boulding (1686053) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Cyril Butler (1596394) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant James Moffat Gibb (1825597) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Stanley Roy Harris (1256507) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Keith Oswald Langham (432823) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flying Officer John Llewellyn Walters (426931) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/24/685