LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Leon George LYONS
Service No: 405315
Born: Barcaldine QLD, 11 November 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 March 1941
Unit: No. 408 Squadron (RCAF), RAF Station Balderton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 408 Squadron Hampden aircraft AT228), France, 29 August 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Liesse Communal Cemetery, Aisne, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Francis and Ella Lyons, of Barcaldine, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Barcaldine QLD
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2009 hours on the night of 28/29th August 1942, Hampden AT228 took off hours from Balderton, detailed to bomb Saarbrucken, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed near Liesse (Aisne), 15kms north west of Laon, France, and all the crew members were killed
The crew members of AT228 were:
Sergeant Malcolm Stanley Brighouse (405388) (First Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Christopher Norman Chalken (R/78950) (RCAF) (Second Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Leon George Lyons (405315) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Keith Thomas Pellett (J/9759) (RCAF) (Observer)
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 163/93/645
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line