LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant Rhodric Leslie POPE

Service No: 437951
Born: Southwark SA, 24 February 1925
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 April 1943
Unit: No. 460 Squadron, RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 460 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB812), Lincolnshire, 10 February 1945, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire UK
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Leslie and Amy Pope, of Quorn, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Quorn SA
Remembered: Panel 108, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide

Lancaster PB812 took off from RAF Binbrook at 1124 hours on 10 February 1945 on a cross country training flight. The aircraft was flying the last leg of the exercise from Luton to Scunthorpe when it crashed at 3.45pm near the Caythorpe Railway Station near Fulbeck, Lincolnshire. Witnesses in another aircraft saw the aircraft diving almost vertically on fire. The crash was of a severe nature killing all on board.

The crew members of PB812 were:

Flight Sergeant Graeme Mark Dockery (403736) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Jeffrey John Downing (418648) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Richard Albert George Miller (429723) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Frederick Albert Cyril Nesbit-Bell (1587443) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Rhodric Leslie Pope (437951) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Anthony Gatward Robinson (435913) (Air Gunner)

The Bomb Aimer of the crew was in hospital at the time of the accident.

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, 166/33/304

Bibliography:

Firkins, P. C. (Peter Charles) (441386) Strike and Return, Westward Ho Publishing City Beach WA, 1985

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