LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Arthur Stuart PARSONS
Service No: 434266
Born: Mareeba QLD, 18 October 1923
Enlisted in the RAF: 6 November 1942
Unit: No. 550 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 550 Squadron Lancaster I aircraft MF962), France, 31 August 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Stirling Parsons and Ethel Amelia Francis Parsons, of Atherton, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Townsville QLD
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the 31st August 1944, Lancaster NF962 took from RAF North Killingholm at 1307 hours, detailed to bomb a V2 rocket store at Agenville, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at l-Etoile (Pas-de-Calais), on the north side of the Somme, 12 kms north west of Picquigay, France. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of NF962 were:
Sergeant Hugh Henry Mills Connolly (1569111) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Derek Picken Gates (1836678) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Thomas Hamilton (1826261) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Ronald McLeod (1823751) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Arthur Stuart Parsons (434266) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Peter Charles Siddall (421538) (RNZAF) (Second Pilot)
Wing Commander Alan Francis Moir Sisley (39008) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Harold George Thomas (1441411) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/32/488