LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Douglas Edward Lanyon REDDY
Service No: 420596
Born: Hurstville NSW, 31 August 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941
Unit: No. 1657 Conversion Unit (RAF), RAF Station Stradishall
Died: Injuries from Air Operations (loss of No. 1657 Conversion Unit Stirling aircraft W4755 on 7 September 1943), Suffolk, 27 September 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Francis and Iris Lurline Reddy, of Hurstville, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Hurstville NSW
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Hurstville War memorial, Hurstville NSW
On 7 September 1943, Stirling W4755 took off from Stradishall for an evening training exercise, during which the aircraft was attacked by an intruder aircraft. Unable to maintain height the aircraft was put down at 2139 hours in a cornfield between Withers-field and Great Thurlow, two miles north east of Haverhill in Suffolk. All the crew members were injured. Soon the aircraft was a mass of flame watched by some very dazed survivors. It was at this stage that Flight Sergeant Reddy could not be accounted for. With total disregard of his own well-being, Flying Officer Smith re-entered the fuselage and having found the trapped air bomber, dragged him clear. In doing so, Smith sustained terrible injuries and died the next day. Flight Sergeant Reddy succumbed to his injuries and died on the 27 September 1943.
The crew members of W4755 were:
Sergeant E V Cramp (43220) (RAF) (Air Gunner) Injured
Flight Sergeant Charles Kenneth Gilkes (420656) (Pilot) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 22 September 1945
Flight Sergeant Gordon Raymond Greaves (415579) (Wireless Air Gunner) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 1 June 1945
Sergeant J M Harman (635578) (RAF) (Air Gunner) Injured
Flying Officer N E Miles (51873) (RAF) (Navigator) Injured
Sergeant Oulton (1693953) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) Injured
Flight Sergeant Douglas Edward Lanyon Reddy (420596) (Air Bomber) Died: 27 September 1943
Flying Officer Leslie Frederick Smith DFC (136933) (RAFVR) (Pilot) Died: 8 September 1943
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, 166/35/143
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line