LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Cecil O’BRIEN
Service No: 420250
Born: Randwick NSW, 20 July 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 October 1941
Unit: No. 467 Squadron, RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 467 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED539), Germany, 28 January 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Francis and Mary Julia O’Brien; husband of Norma Ellen O’Brien, of Maroubra, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 258, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 111, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Date: 27-28 January 1944
Target: Berlin
Total Force: Dispatched – 530, Attacking – 481
RAAF Force: No. 460 Dispatched – 18, Attacking – 18; No. 463 Dispatched – 16, Attacking – 16: No. 467 Dispatched – 15, Attacking – 14
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 1,761
Total Aircraft Lost: 33
RAAF Aircraft Lost: No. 460 – 3, No. 463 – 1; No. 467 – 2
For the next major raid on 27th-28th January further measures were taken to defeat early contact by enemy fighters. A long route over the North Sea was chosen in conjunction with a diversionary attack on Heligoland and support action by Mosquitos which dropped false route markers and fighter were waiting over Berlin and were not entirely shaken off by a sharp turn incorporated in the withdrawal route. This defensive manoeuvre was indeed criticised by Australians as greatly increasing the risk of collision, several aircraft being forced to dive away from other Lancasters approaching Berlin somewhat off-track. Fighter activity also caused some bunching of the Lancasters over Berlin and Squadron Leader Brill of No. 463 had his aircraft severely damaged by incendiaries falling from another aircraft. He instructed his crew to abandon the Lancaster, but then regained control and cancelled the order. Losses were again high, especially for the RAAF squadrons, which lost six of forty-eight Lancasters sent out, but with the glow of large fires reflected on the clouds the airmen were confident that the attack had been successful. This was later borne out by gloomy and hysterical German radio fulminations against this “terror raid on the residential districts of Berlin”.
Extracts from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Pages 643, 644-5
Lancaster ED539 took off from RAF Waddington at 1740 hours on the night of 27/28th January 1944 to bomb Berlin. The bomb load was 1 x 4000 lb (pound) (1,800 kg) bomb, 48 x 30 lb (14 kg), 900 x 4 lb (2 kg) incendiaries. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Post war it was established that the aircraft crashed on a house in Wendenschloss Strasse, Kopenwick. Kopenwick is a suburb of Berlin about 8 kms south east of the city centre.
All the crew members were killed
The crew members of ED539 were:
Sergeant Harold Boardley (1549458) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Douglas James Coombe (1582983) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Francis Herbert Doncaster (1013809) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Joseph James Melling (1017778) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Cecil O’Brien (420250) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant William John Simpson (421693) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Gerald Henry Sudds (136393) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
No. 460 Squadron lost Lancaster JB637 (Warrant Officer Richard John Power (409590) (Pilot)) on 27 January 1944.
No. 460 Squadron lost Lancaster JA860 (Flight Sergeant William Robertson McLachlan (414947) (Pilot)) on 27 January 1944.
No. 460 Squadron lost Lancaster JB296 (Squadron Leader Lorraine Joseph Simpson DFC (401542) (Pilot)) on 27 January 1944.
No. 463 Squadron lost Lancaster ME563 (Flying Officer Alan James Durham Leslie (409721) (Pilot)) on 27 January 1944
No. 467 Squadron lost Lancaster ME575 (Pilot Officer Stephen Charles Grugeon (413855) (Pilot)) on 27 January 1944.
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, 166/31/143