LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Lionel Jeans MARTIN
Service No: 406185
Born: Midland Junction WA, 31 October 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 September 1940
Unit: No. 3 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (Whitley aircraft P5051), North Sea, 13 March 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred Jeans Martin and Ruby Olive Martin, of Cannington, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Cannington WA
Remembered: Panel 113, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Whitley P5051 of No 3 Operational Training Unit took off from RAF Station Cranwell at 1027 hours on 13 March 1942 to carry out a navigational training exercise in the North Sea. Apart from an initial signal soon after take off, nothing further was heard from the aircraft and it failed to return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew had lost their lives at sea, and they have no known grave. Their names are commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing, Runnymede Surrey, UK.
The crew members of P5051 were:
Sergeant Robert Alfred Bell (1195764) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Edmund Cheney Evans (R/69166) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer James Rist Gorham (J/5992) (RCAF) (First Pilot)
Sergeant Lionel Jeans Martin (406185) (Observer)
Sergeant Douglas Walker (1165033) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air 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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/142/315