LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Walter Noel PRIDMORE
Service No: 429832
Born: Alberton SA, 25 December 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 September 1942
Unit: No. 12 Squadron (RAF), RAF Wickenby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 12 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ME323), Lincolnshire, 4 March 1945, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Henry and Lily May Pridmore, of Pennington, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Woodville SA
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Lancaster ME323 took off from RAF Binbrook at 1806 hours on the night of 3 March 1945 on a training flight. The aircraft was shot down by an intruder aircraft (Operation Gisela) on 4 March 1945 between Stockwith and Blyton, two villages 3 miles north-west and north east respectively from Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, and all seven crew members were killed. Cannon fire was heard by an eye witness.
The crew members of ME323 were:
Flight Sergeant Alan Cryer (436545) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant George Edward Davis (437781) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Leslie Horstmann (429960) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Thomas McCaffray (1434393) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Walter Noel Pridmore (429832) (Bomb Aimer)
Pilot Officer Arthur Glyndwyr Thomas (56400) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Alexander Harold Weston (419718) (Rear Gunner)
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, 166/33/323