LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Fenton Charles OLDMEADOW
Service No: 400731
Born: Ivanhoe VIC, 5 July 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 13 October 1940
Unit: No. 83 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Wyton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 83 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED353), Germany, 20 December 1942, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Anthony Vavau Oldmeadow and Ethel Alleyn Oldmeadow; husband of Florence May Oldmeadow, of Eaglemont, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Heidelberg VIC
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1824 hours on the night of 20 December 1942 Lancaster ED353 took off from Wyton detailed to bomb Duisberg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at Duisberg Wedau and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of ED353 were:
Pilot Officer Kenneth Edward Edwards (137212) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Lieutenant Jack Marchant DFC (400478) (Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant Fenton Charles Oldmeadow (400731) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Jack Phipp (137598) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Douglas Norman Powell (533840) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Richard Leslie Romig (1310977) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Edward Smith (1110205) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
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, 163/50/81