LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Alan John PERKINS
Service No: 432256
Born: Carlton NSW, 2 July 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 December 1942
Unit: No. 467 Squadron, RAF Station Waddington, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 467 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LM239), Germany, 27 September 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Harold and Naomi Perkins, of Penrith, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Carlton NSW
Remembered: Panel 111, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Penrith City Memorial Park, Penrith NSW
Weather limitations threatened to spoil a No. 5 Group attack on Karlsruhe on 26th-27th September but, as this time the bomb-load was almost entirely incendiary, once the attack started there were sufficient ground fires to give a reasonable aiming point for crews arriving after the target indicators were extinguished. This raid caused widespread devastation in the centre of Karlsruhe; administrative and commercial buildings, munitions factories and military barracks all suffered but the important railway repair shops, already attacked early in the month by the USAAF received little extra damage. Thirty-one crews of Nos. 463 and 467 commented on the difficulty of identifying the target markers at Karlsruhe but were generally satisfied with the raid.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Over Europe 1944-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963 – Page 300
Lancaster LM239 took off from RAF Waddington at 0044 hours on 27 September 1944 to bomb Karlsruhe, Germany. The bomb load was 2700 x 4 lb (2 kg) incendiaries. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Seventeen aircraft from the Squadron took part in the raid and one of these LM239 failed to return.
The crew members of LM239 were:
Sergeant John Howard Barnes (9645530 (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flight Lieutenant Francis James Cleary (400870) (Rear Gunner, Squadron Gunnery Leader) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 3 October 1945
Flight Sergeant Angus Murray Hughes (417845) (Bomb Aimer) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 17 December 1945
Warrant Officer Keith Alan McKay (408709) (Navigator) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 4 December 1945
Flight Sergeant Alan Maxwell Meggs (419412) (Wireless Operator Air) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 17 December 1945
Flying Officer Kenneth Verdun Millar (415948) (Pilot) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 30 January 1946
Pilot Officer Alan John Perkins (432256) (Mid Upper Gunner)
In a later report Flying Officer Millar said “The aircraft was hit by flak and damaged. The port wing was hit and the port outer on fire. Could not feather port outer as still windmilling. The fire from this engine was spreading rapidly along the whole port wing the petrol tanks apparently being holed. Ordered put on chutes but not jump. Immediately the fire enveloped the whole wing and abandon order given and acknowledge. No crew injured. It is possible that Perkins the mid upper gunner could have been in the aircraft at time of abandoning as the I/C was still working but I could not get any more response from the two gunners who were the only two I had not personally seen abandon. I presumed they had left and as my position was getting intensively hot I abandoned about 10000 feet. Aircraft was under control but port wing burning fiercely. The aircraft crashed about 6 kms south of Karlsruhe. All the crew were safe except Perkins. The last person to see him was the WOP when he was standing at the rear door as if in readiness to jump after the WOP. He had definitely left the mid upper turret and was standing by the rear door. Nothing else is known re. Perkins. I was liberated from Stalag Luft 1 by the Allied armies on 19 May 1945.”
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, 166/32/506
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line