LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Solomon LEVITUS
Service No: 402910
Born: Sydney NSW, 17 April 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 November 1940
Unit: No. 460 Squadron, RAF Breighton, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 460 Squadron Wellington aircraft Z1249), Germany, 3 June 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of David and Rebecca Gertrude Levitus, of Rose Bay, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 111, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 107, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: The Great Synagogue World War II Roll of Honour Book, Sydney NSW
Date: 2-3 June 1942
Target: Essen
Total Force: Dispatched – 195, Attacking – 144
RAAF Force: No. 460 Dispatched – 10, Attacking – 10
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 309
Total Aircraft Lost: 13
RAAF Aircraft Lost: No. 460 – 2
On 2-3 June a normal-sized attack was projected, again using the illuminating technique. This time the flares were very helpful (when compared with the previous raid on 1-2 June) in bringing the bomber stream over the target, and most of the crews were satisfied that their bombs dropped on built-up areas, even though the prevalent haze prevented them from identifying Krupps.
Extracts from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Pages 323, 325
Wellington Z1249 took off from RAF Breighton at 2230 hours on 2 June 1942 to attack
Essen, Germany. The bomb load was 720 x 4 lb (pound) (2 kg) incendiaries. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. It was established post war that the aircraft was shot down at 0140 hours on 3 June 1942 at Deulken near the town of Muenchen Gladbach, about 20 miles west of Dusseldorf. The aircraft exploded and wreckage was scattered over a wide area. All the crew members were killed instantly. German documents revealed that they removed the remains of the crew for burial, but a post war search for their graves was unsuccessful.
The crew members of Z1249 were:
Flight Sergeant Hugh Rowell Brodie (400524) (Observer)
Sergeant James Albert Gaiter (405020) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Solomon Levitus (402910) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Robert George Dunlop Read (R/69516) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Thomas Gordon Prentis Townsend (1051659) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
No. 460 Squadron lost Wellington Z1394 (Flying Officer John Walter Keene (402742) (Pilot)) on 3 June 1942.
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, 163/137/160
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Firkins, P. C. (Peter Charles) (441386) Strike and Return, Westward Ho Publishing City Beach WA, 1985