LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant David Kenneth McDONNELL
Service No: 418972
Born: Sydney NSW, 2 July 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 June 1942 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 207 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Spilsby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 207 Squadron Lancaster aircraft DV360), Germany, 22 June 1944, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp-Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Joseph and Mary Teresa McDonnell, of Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2323 hours on the night of 21 June1944 Lancaster DV360 took off from Spilsby detailed to bomb Wesseling, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed east of the Wehebach Stausee and between the villages of Grosshau and Kleinhau, 10 kms south south west of Duren. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of DV360 were:
Flight Sergeant Eric Vincent Evans (710241) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer Edwin Arthur Goodman (176436) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Denis Arthur Houben (1321888) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant George Lackie (1820269) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant David Kenneth McDonnell (418972) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Dawson Holland Pierce (1496522) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Joseph Pickett Shaw (1578357) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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, 163/24/300