LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Ian Cumming MacKENZIE
Service No: 405005
Born: Brisbane QLD, 13 July 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 January 1941
Unit: No. 408 Squadron (RCAF), RAF Station Leeming
Died: Air Operations: (No. 408 Squadron Halifax aircraft JB909), France, 15 April 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Clichy Northern Cemetery, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Charles and Alice Mary Mackenzie, of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2151 hours on the night of 14/15 April 1943, Halifax JB909 took off from Leeming detailed to bomb Stuttgart, Germany. The aircraft was due to return at 0517 hours on the 15 April, but the aircraft failed to return. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter, and crashed at 0315 hours at la Neuvillette (Marne), 4kms north west of Rheims, France. Pilot Officer MacKenzie sacrificed his life in order to ensure his aircraft did not come down on houses, six of the crew members became Prisoners of War and one evaded capture.
The crew members of JB909 were:
Sergeant Wilfred Lloyd Canter (R/127907) (RCAF) (Co-Pilot) Evaded Capture
Sergeant Thomas James Coupland (1343940) (RAFVR) (Navigator Bomb Aimer) PoW
Pilot Officer Ian Cumming MacKenzie (405005) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer William Alexander McIlroy (50572) (RAF) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Sergeant Lloyd William McKenzie (R/71002) (RCAF) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flight Sergeant James Stuart Murray (R/62945) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Pilot Officer Conel O’Connell (403033) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 13 December 1945
Pilot Officer Alfred Playfair (118652) (RAFVR) (Navigator Bomb Aimer) PoW
In a PoW report the then Flying Officer O’Connell stated: “At 0215 hours the aircraft was hit by a night fighter which attacked from underneath. The port inner motor was blown out of the wing, and fires were started behind the bulk head doors and to the rear of the rest position. A shell which exploded in the engineer’s compartment exploded the oxygen bottles, jammed the rudders and wounded the Mid Upper Gunner. Attempts were made to extinguish the fires but to no avail. Pilot Officer Mackenzie gave instructions for the crew to bale out as he could not control the aircraft. Three of the crew were injured, Sergeant Murray, Pilot Officer McIlroy and myself (a flesh wound in right leg). The aircraft was under control when I left at 4,000 feet, although it was on fire. Pilot Officer MacKenzie and Sergeant McKenzie were still in the aircraft. All the crew with the exception of Pilot Officer MacKenzie were alive and accounted for.”
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, 166/26/87