LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Norman Joseph LYFORD
Service No: 420693
Born: Pymble NSW, 4 December 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 November 1941
Unit: No. 44 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Dunholme Lodge
Died: Air Operations: (No. 44 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND514), Germany, 30 January 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George William and Lillian Gertrude Lyford, of Pymble, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Pymble NSW
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Gordon Public School Roll of Honour, Gordon NSW
Remembered: Ku-ring-gai World War 2 Book of Remembrance, Gordon NSW
At 1657 hours on the night of 30 January 1944 Lancaster ND514 took off from Dunholme Lodge to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and all crew members other than Pilot Officer Lyford were able to bale out. A post war report by a Military Research & Enquiry team stated “Enquiries among local inhabitants and German documents revealed that the aircraft crashed at Giesenhorst on 30 January 1944 presumably as a result of enemy action.” Giesenhorst is 14 miles north west of Berlin.
The crew members of ND514 were:
Sergeant R G Keen (1389584) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air) PoW
Pilot Officer Norman Joseph Lyford (420693) (Pilot)
Sergeant H R Marrs (1372918) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) PoW
Flight Sergeant G Owen (1432321) (RAF) (Air Bomber) POW
Sergeant A Semple (1568161) (RAFVR) PoW
Sergeant J R Tijou (1578112) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Sergeant J A Wainwright (2215991) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner) PoW
Sergeant Marrs later reported “I last saw Pilot Officer Lyford prior to my departure from the aircraft. Since then I have received no information as to his fate.” Flight Sergeant Owen stated “the Germans informed me that Flying Officer Lyford had been killed.”
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, 166/25/112
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line