LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Lancelot Kenneth NEEDS
Service No: 413015
Born: Wallsend NSW, 21 October 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 100 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Grimsby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 100 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED774), North West Europe, 23 August 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Lancelot Clarence and Elsie Needs; husband of Jean Needs, of Lambton, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Boolaroo NSW
Remembered: Panel 191, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Newcastle Boys High School Memorial Entrance World War II, Waratah NSW
Remembered: Memorial Grove, Newcastle NSW
Lancaster ED774took off From Grimsby at 2000 hours on 23 August 1943 to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. With no trace of the missing aircraft or crew being found following post war investigations and enquiries, it was recorded in 1950 that the missing crew had lost their lives with no known grave. Twenty other Squadron aircraft were detailed for this mission. Nothing unusual was experienced by the other aircraft during the mission, with 3 aircraft missing and all the rest returning safely.
The crew members of ED774 were:
Sergeant William Stephen Fletton (122635) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Henry Joseph Hahn (R/152439) (RCAF) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant William Burt Jamieson (1370277) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Pilot Officer Lancelot Kenneth Needs (413015) (Pilot)
Sergeant Robert Gordon Reay (1543666) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Arthur Stansfield (1127348) (RAFVR) (Mid upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Phillip Arthur Whitter (1864357) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
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, 166/29/41
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line