LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer David Thomas LEE
Service No: 419688
Born: Albury NSW, 30 November 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 4 February 1942 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 15 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Mildenhall
Died: Air Operations: (No. 15 Squadron Lancaster aircraft NF916), Germany, 5 November 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Edward Cameron Lee and Grace Doris Lee, of Albury, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0955 hours on 5 November 1944 Lancaster NF916 took off from Mildenhall on a day mission to bomb Solingen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. Other crews on the same mission reported seeing the aircraft disintegrate in mid-air and that no parachutes were seen to open. A later report from a Missing Research and Enquiry Team stated “the aircraft crashed in the afternoon of 5 November 1944 at Halfershof in Kreis Solingen, Germany.” All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of NF916 were:
Flight Lieutenant Hugh Orme Cato (424147) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant John Donald Hance (424409) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant William Henderson (1592158) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Warrant Officer Harry Hounsome (1445125) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Kenneth Frederick Knox (2209802) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer David Thomas Lee (419688) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Terence Jack Priddle (1610620) (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, 166/24/583