LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Desmond Eric MURPHY
Service No: 429472
Born: Ipswich QLD, 18 March 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 October 1942
Unit: No. 44 Squadron (RAF), RAF Spilsby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 44 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PD373), Germany, 4 December 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Eric Desmond Murphy and Margaret May Murphy, of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Ipswich QLD
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster PD373 took off from RAF Spilsby at 1642 hours on the night of 4/5th December 1944, to bomb Heilbronn, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed near Kleiningersheim, a village west of the river Necker and some 18 kms south south west from the centre of Heilbronn. It was believed that the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter. All seven crew members were killed.
The crew members of PD373 were:
Captain G W Hirschfeld (103929V) (SAAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Henry Sylvester Jones (436051) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Alfred Dennis Lorrain (1607068) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Jack Mitchell (1514804) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Desmond Eric Murphy (429472) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant John Storr (1431938) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Peter Yorke (160033) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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, 166/28/477