LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Robert Hudson McLEAN
Service No: 426666
Born: Parramatta NSW, 15 November 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1942 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 106 Squadron (RAF0, RAF Station Metheringham
Died: Air Operations: (No. 106 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND331), Germany, 30 August 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Roger Warwick McLean and Stella McLean; husband of Thelma Patricia McLean, of Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Cairns QLD
Remembered: Panel 261, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2040 hours on 29 August 1944 Lancaster ND331 took off from Metheringham to bomb Konigsberg, Germany. The aircraft was one of eighteen squadron aircraft on the mission. Nothing was heard from ND 331 after take off and it did not return to base. Post war examination of German documents established that the aircraft crashed on 30 August in the vicinity of Gut Tarpienen, about 12 miles north east of Neuhausen, near Konigsberg in East Prussia. Five crew members were killed and two became Prisoners of War. The remains of two RAF members and one unidentified members were interred in the New Cemetery, Neuhausen, but it was not possible for investigating teams to visit the area which was the Russian controlled zone of occupation to verify the position. The five missing members are recorded as having no known grave.
The crew members of ND331 were:
Sergeant S Bell (943582) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flying Officer Leslie Claude William Boivin (134125) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Sutherland Bryson (1568011) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Robert Hudson McLean (426666) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant Allen Hargill (1427039) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant J P Nicol (1564242) (RAF) (Air Bomber) PoW
Sergeant Edward George Lancelot Parker (1471658) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper 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, 166/26/559