LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Alexander Woodrow McKINNON
Service No: 425881
Born: Ballina NSW, 4 March 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 May 1942
Unit: No. 467 Squadron, RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 467 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND 346), France, 2 August 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Boran-Sur-Oise Communal Cemetery, Oise, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Hector and Vera McKinnon, of Broadwater, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Broadwater NSW
Remembered: Panel 111, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Though the circumstances of this particular raid on 2 August 1944 are not included in the Volume IV of the RAAF Official History, the background and strategic context of the battle against German long range missiles during August 1944 may be found at pages 180-184 in Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Over Europe 1944-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963
Lancaster ND 346 took off from RAF Waddington at 1434 hours on 2 August 1944 on a daylight raid on flying bomb facilities at Bois de Cassan, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Seventeen aircraft from the Squadron took part in the raid and two of these including ND346 failed to return. AWM 64 (1/427) records that “according to reports the two aircraft that failed to return from the above mission (ie. ME 853 and ND 346) collided and went straight down.” It was later established that the two aircraft crashed at Boran-Sur-Oise 9kms west south west of Chantilly, France.
The crew members of ND364 were:
Flight Sergeant Edgar Glynn Challis (434619) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Arthur Richard Dyer (420648) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Albert Edward Heap (426343) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Russell Howard (426601) (Bomb Aimer)
Warrant Officer John Sylvester Le Maire (410070) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant John Alexander Woodrow McKinnon (425881) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Anthony George Shayler (1853300) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
No. 467 Squadron lost Lancaster M853 (Flying Officer Alick Ronald Bradley (423050) (Pilot)) on 2 August 1944.
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, 166/26/535