LEST WE FORGET

Pilot Officer Keith Mitchell MacDONALD

Service No: 426124
Born: Ayr QLD, 20 October 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 May 1942
Unit: No. 619 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Woodhall Spa
Died: Air Operations: (No. 619 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB123), Germany, 3 January 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Hamburg Cemetery, Hamburg, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Dr. John Macdonald and Isabel Macdonald, of Ayr, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 2326 hours on the night of 2 January 1944, Lancaster JB123 took off from Woodhall Spa detailed to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft exploded in mid-air at 0210 hours on 3 January, and crashed at Wense, about five miles south of Soltau, Germany. All the crew members were killed.

The crew members of JB123 were:

Flying Officer Albert Bramwell Bearcroft (138406) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Kenneth William Cheshire (639762) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Warrant Officer Ernest Stanley Ivor Evans DFM (1381391) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer John Anthony Foch Heffernan (J/20361) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Leslie Charles Keeling (139378) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flying Officer William Charles John Lord (137385) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Keith Mitchell MacDonald (426124) (Mid Upper Gunner)

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, 166/26/332

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