LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Harry Samuel NICKLESS
Service No: 37050
Born: Sydney NSW, 24 September 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 May 1941
Unit: No. 90 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Tuddenham
Died: Air Operations: (No. 90 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PA158), Germany, 3 February 1945, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward Kelso Nickless and Milbra Nickless, of Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1614 hours on the night of 3 February, 1945 Lancaster PA158 took off from Tuddenham detailed to bomb the Hansa benzol facility at Dortmund, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A later report by a Missing Research & Enquiry team stated “The aircraft was attacked by an enemy night fighter and exploded in the air at approximately 2130 hours. It crashed at Elsenpescherweg, a wide open spaced in the western suburb of Munchen-Gladbach. All the crew members were killed.”
The crew members of PA158 were:
Sergeant Ernest Edward Bemrose (1596002) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Stanley Buckland Stewart Bishop (J/37721) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant John George Brown (3040078) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Johannes Jacobus Buning (171614) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Alfred Henry Edwards (1391039) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Mervyn John Frederick Poole Goddard (1853495) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Harry Samuel Nickless (37050) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/29/196