LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Duncan MacFADYEN
Service No: 425178
Born: Neilston, Scotland, 31 August 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 January 1942 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 49 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Fiskerton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 49 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND533), France, 10 June 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Bayeaux War Cemetery, Calvados, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John and Margaret MacFadyen; husband of Elizabeth Adams MacFadyen, of Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2136 hours on the night of 9 June 1944 Lancaster ND533 took off from Fiskerton detailed to bomb the railway junction at Etampes, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed 2 kms north of Rosay-sur-Lieure (Eure), and 9 kms north of Ecouis, France. Six of the crew members were killed and one was taken prisoner.
The crew members of ND533 were:
Flying Officer Bryan Esmond Bell (151471) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Hilary Daniel Clark (159223) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Philip Derek Hemmens (152583) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber) PoW, Died: 18 October 1944 at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp
Sergeant John Holden (1521290) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Sydney Charles Holmes (1810022) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Duncan MacFadyen (425178) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Joseph John Reed (1281835) (RAFVR) (Rear 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, 166/26/475