LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Ian Gordon MILLER
Service No: 411165
Born: Parramatta NSW, 1 November 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 April 1941
Unit: No. 460 Squadron, RAF Breighton, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 460 Squadron Lancaster aircraft W4331), Germany, 17 April 1943, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John and Ella Miller; husband of Doris Annie Jane Miller, of Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Epping NSW
Remembered: Panel 108, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Epping War Memorial Plaques, Epping NSW
Remembered: Epping Presbyterian Church Memorial Organ, Epping NSW
Date: 16-17 April 1943
Target: Pilsen
Total Force: Dispatched – 327, Attacking – 242
RAAF Force: No. 460 Dispatched – 17, Attacking – 17; No. 467 – 17, 15
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 617
Total Aircraft Lost: 37
RAAF Aircraft Lost: No. 460 – 3; No. 467 – 2
This diversion (attack on Mannheim, Germany) was indeed more successful than the main effort because Australian and other crews reported navigational difficulties in locating distant Pilsen. One Australian bombed Nuremberg, two others searched over a wide area without finding the Pathfinder flares and then set course for base, attacking Erlangen and Koblenz en route. Night fighters harried the Lancasters which found that the bright moonlight was hazard outweighing the expected advantage of easier navigation, and this view appears substantiated by the heavy losses. To add to these disappointments the Pathfinder flares were misplaced and most of the bombs fell on a small town south-west of Pilsen.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Pages 497-8
Lancaster W4331 took off from RAF Breighton at 2106 hours on 16 April 1943 to attack Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. Bomb load 1 x 4000 lb (pound) (1,800 kg) and 3 x 1000 lb (450 kg) bombs. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take and it failed to return to base. Fifteen aircraft from the squadron took part in the raid. From post war enquiries it was established that the aircraft crashed and exploded south of Oggersheim, 4 kms north west of Ludwigshafen, Germany.
The crew members of W4331 were:
Sergeant Ronald Francis Beaumont (1601542) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Maurice George Wilfred Capon (1330550) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Duncan Curtis (814139) (RAF (Auxiliary Air Force)) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Ronald Alfred Hall (1810453) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Ian Gordon Miller (411165) (Pilot)
Sergeant Norman Percy Richmond (1391946) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant George Joseph Wilson (1383005) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
No. 460 Squadron lost Lancaster aircraft W4942 (Flight Sergeant John Norman Williams (416135) (Pilot)) on 16 April 1943.
No, 460 Squadron lost Lancaster ED711 (Pilot Officer David Edward White DFM (408896) (Pilot)) on 17 April 1943.
During the diversion attack on Mannheim, No. 466 Squadron lost Wellington HE501 (Pilot Officer Colin Foley Tozer (406585) (Pilot)) on 16 April 1943.
No. 467 Squadron lost Lancaster ED780 (Flight Sergeant Raymond Clarence Stuart (406702) (Pilot)) on 17 April 1943.
No. 467 Squadron lost Lancaster ED651 (Sergeant Bruce Craig Wilson (408545) (Pilot)) on 17 April 1943.
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, 166/27/95
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Firkins, P. C. (Peter Charles) (441386) Strike and Return, Westward Ho Publishing City Beach WA, 1985