LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Peter Gordon MELVILLE
Service No: 418143
Born: Toorak VIC, 16 November 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 April 1942
Unit: No. 192 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Foulsham
Died: Air Operations: (No. 192 Squadron Halifax aircraft LW626), North Sea, 26 March 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Gordon Arthur and Linda Eileen Melville, of Toorak, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Toorak VIC
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2043 hours on the night of 26/27 March 1944 Halifax LW626 took off from Foulsham detailed to carry out special duties (radar jamming) in support of Main Bomber Command Force operations over Essen, Germany. The aircraft was last heard on radio at 2127 hours transmitting a distress message. The signal strength was weak but it was believed the Halifax ditched in the North Sea, some 60 miles off the Norfolk fishing port of Cromer. From the wreck of the aircraft it appeared that rather than a forced landing the aircraft had broken up on impact. Seven bodies were recovered.
The crew members of LW626 were:
Sergeant Thomas Hugh Cox (1624744) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) Unrecovered
Sergeant Walter James Eric Cumberland (1867838) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Hugh Graham Gray (426170) (RNZAF) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer Ronald William Kennedy (162542) (RAFVR) (Special Equipment Operator)
Pilot Officer Peter Gordon Melville (418143) (Pilot)
Sergeant Albert John Rogers (1819000) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Brian Frederick Welch (1391600) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant George Wilson (1520804) (RAFVR) (Wireless 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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/27/386