LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Robert Erskine PLANTE
Service No: 8651
Born: Brighton VIC, 19 April 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 February 1940
Unit: No. 1656 Conversion Unit (RAF), RAF Station Lindholme
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1656 Conversion Unit Lancaster aircraft LM175), Irish Sea, 6 February 1945, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Stuart Plante and Marion Erskine Plante; husband of Caroline Lavinia Plante, of Essendon, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Essendon VIC
Remembered: Panel 284, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
After 2300 hours on 5 February 1945 Lancaster LM175 took off from Lindholme on a night cross
country non operational training flight. The route was from Base – Benson – Shrewsbury – The Skerries – Strumble Head – Bury St Edmunds – Whittlesey and return to Base. The aircraft would have been over the sea for approximately half an hour. Contact was maintained until 0055 hours when the plane was in the vicinity of Shrewsbury, Shropshire. Then nothing further was heard from LM175 and the aircraft did not return to Base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of LM175 were:
Flight Sergeant Layton Challender Barrett (428116) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Alistair George Ross MacFarlane (1894129) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Mackie (1571947) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Robert Erskine Plante (8651) (Pilot)
Sergeant Jack Edward Ralph (1867776) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Sergeant Ronald Harold Howard Side (1629469) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Eric Smails (2219167) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
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 A9301, 8651