LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Geoffrey Douglas MUMMERY
Service No: 419732
Born: 24 June 1924, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 61 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Skellingthorpe
Died: Air Operations: (No. 61 Squadron Lancaster aircraft NF988), Germany, 7 March 1945, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Becklingen War Cemetery, Soltau, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter James Mummery and Lilian Victoria Mummery, of Myrtleford, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1743 hours on the night of 7 March 1945 Lancaster NF988 took off from Skellingthorpe detailed to bomb Harburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter near Freyersen, which is 32 miles south
west of Harburg. Seven of the crew members were killed and one was taken prisoner.
The crew members of NF988 were:
Flight Sergeant Roy Thomas Galloway (1399222) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant I A Hay (1593269) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Harold Arnold Hunt (154281) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Gerald McChrystal (1520473) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant Stanley Edward Miller (131087) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer Geoffrey Douglas Mummery (419732) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant J E Norcutt (1897865) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) PoW
Flying Officer Hubert Gregory Underwood (150656) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Norcutt later reported “When the Pilot gave the bale out order, I could not open the turret doors for a few moments but eventually did so. I never heard any crew member acknowledge the order. The next day the Germans took me around to the wreck which had the 6 bodies of the crew.”
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, 166/28/546