LEST WE FORGET

Flight Lieutenant Edward McMaster LAWSON

Service No: 419881
Born: Creswick VIC, 1 August 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 October 1942
Unit: No. 207 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Spilsby
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 207 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ME473), Lincolnshire, 2 March 1945, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of the Revd. Archibald Frederick Lawson and Winifred Vera Lawson, of Camberwell Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Koroit VIC
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 0021 hours on the morning of 2 March 1945 Lancaster ME473 took off from Spilsby detailed to carry out a night fighter training affiliation exercise with Lancaster ND572 from No. 57 Squadron (RAF). During the exercise the aircraft collided in the air and crashed at 0118 hours at Fen Farm, Ruskington. All the crew members on both aircraft were killed.

The crew members of ME473 were:

Sergeant Robert Charles Banks (1899297) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant George Walter Flitt (1869316) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Arthur Henderson (1671712) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Lieutenant Edward McMaster Lawson (419881) (Pilot)
Flying Officer William Winston Lord (154636) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Leading Aircraftman John Morrison (1559833) (RAFVR) (Supernumerary, a Batman on the flight for flying experience)
Sergeant Raymond Richardson (1590550) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant George Wilkinson (1596299) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)

The crew members of ND572 were:

Aircraftman Class II Hunter Mason Aitken (3030232) (RAFVR)
Flying Officer Robert Joseph Anscomb (174549) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Gerald Edward Dandy (2210620) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Eric Davis (1591071) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Frederick Douglas Leahy (3033640) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Cyril John Waters (1419043) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Cyril William Watts (1892463) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Derrick Whitefoot (1654216) (RAFVR)

References:

Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 6 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1945, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1998
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/24/725
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line

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