LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Gordon Richard LIND
Service No: 400229
Born: Canterbury VIC, 2 April 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 July 1940
Unit: No. 24 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 24 Operational Training Unit Whitley aircraft BD379), North Sea, 26 June 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Henry Martyn Lind and Alice Maud Lind, of Mont Albert, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 110, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Flying Officer Lind served a full operational tour with No. 455 Squadron prior to service with No. 24 operational training Unit.
Whitley BD379 took-off at 2230 hours on 25 June 1942 to bomb Bremen. A message was received from the aircraft at 0411 hours on 26 June that the aircraft was going into the sea at any minute. The aircraft position at the time was over the North Sea in the vicinity of Terschelling, Netherlands. There were no further messages from the aircraft which did not return to base. The bodies of four crew members were washed ashore near Terschelling and it was recorded in 1950 that Flying Officer Lind lost his life at sea.
The crew members of BD379 were:
Pilot Officer Ian Patterson Clark (124634) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Harold Hermon Hudson (942732) (RAFVR)
Flying Officer Gordon Richard Lind (400229) (Observer)
Flying Officer James Brian Monro (403970) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant John Storey (937066) (RAFVR)
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, 163/43/72
Bibliography:
Lawson, John Horwood Wightman (251634) The Story of No. 455 Squadron (RAAF), Wilke and Company, Melbourne VIC, 1951