LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Arthur John LONG
Service No: 413396
Born: Kendall NSW, 9 July 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 August 1941
Unit: No. 467 Squadron, RAF Bottesford, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 467 Squadron Lancaster aircraft EE135), Germany, 23 September 1943, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Abraham and Hilda Jessie Long; husband of Esma Joan Long, of Taree, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Taree NSW
Remembered: Panel 111, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Taree World War II and Post War Memorials, Taree NSW
Date: 23-24 September 1943
Target: Mannheim
Total Force: Dispatched – 630, Attacking – 571
RAAF Force: No. 460 Dispatched – 19, Attacking – 16; No. 467 Dispatched – 16, Attacking – 16
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 1,862
Total Aircraft Lost: 32
RAAF Aircraft Lost: No. 460 – 1; No. 467 – 2
The third occasion (following raids on Mannheim on 9 August and 5 September 1943) proved slightly more favourable to the defenders. As before, heavy gun fire soon gave way to fighters hastily summoned to Mannheim, and these, besides cooperating with searchlights, laid lines of white flares over the bomber stream to assist their own attacks. Thus, although the raid had been further compressed into a space of thirty-three minutes (a rate of one aircraft every 3.5 seconds), again over 5 per cent of the bombers were lost. Equally important, although the Pathfinders had done their job well, there was an ominous creep back of the bomb line into open country as inexperienced crews or those unsettled by the formidable defences hastily bombed the first fire they saw. Nevertheless enough extra damage was inflicted on both Mannheim and Ludwigshaven during this raid to remove them from the priority bombing list, although the most important target of all—the I .G. Farben factories at Ludwigshaven – had escaped lightly.
Extracts from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Pages 594, 595
Lancaster EE135 took off from RAF Bottesford at 1901 hours on the night of 23/24th September 1943 to bomb Mannheim, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries it was believed that the aircraft crashed at Altertheim and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of EE135 were:
Warrant Officer II Murray Clayton Craik (R/110957) (RCAF) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Thomas Terrence Blewett Francis (1424559) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Hans Asmussen Green (R/147218) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant John Bennett Harrison (1485062) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Arthur Long (413396) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Oswald John Lumsden (413779) (Navigator)
Sergeant Cornelius Weddell (1603571) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
No. 460 Squadron lost Lancaster DV174 (Flight Sergeant Bruce Albert Plant (23729) (Pilot)) on 23 September 1943.
No. 467 Squadron lost Lancaster DV233 (Pilot Officer Walter Theodore Farmer (416843) (Pilot)) on 23 September 1943.
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, 166/25/83
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line