LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Ian Ronald OSBORNE
Service No: 424538
Born: Killara NSW, 24 February 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 September 1942
Unit: No. 100 Squadron, RAF Station Grimsby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 100 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB569), Netherlands, 3 February 1945, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Mierlo War Cemetery, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ronald Charles and Mabel Isabel Osborne, of Killara, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Killara NSW
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Ku-ring-gai World War 2 Book of Remembrance, Gordon NSW
Lancaster PB569 took off from Grimsby at 1605 hours on the night of 3 February 1945 detailed to bomb the Prosper benzol works at Bottrop, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft completely disintegrated over a wide area and crashed in a minefield. Six of the crew members were killed in the crash and one became a Prisoner of War. An Army unit located the crashed aircraft and recovered five of the bodies with that of
Pilot Officer Osborne being located separately from the others.
The crew members of PB569 were:
Flight Sergeant James Harper (117739) (Rear Gunner) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 5 February 1946
Pilot Officer John Gordon Treatt Killen (421913) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Raymond Kevin McKaskill (431183) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Robin Ordell DFC (422251) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Ian Ronald Osborne (424538) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Keith Kevin Reynolds (424306) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Charles Scurr (1077176) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Harper later reported “As far as can be ascertained no member of the crew was injured before the crash and the bale out order was given to the whole crew. I was turning the rear turret by hand in order to get out and then remember seeing the stars and cloud and pulling his chute. There is no information as to why the navigator left the aircraft and the others did not.”
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 A 705, 166/22/425
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line