LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Joseph Geoffrey RICH
Service No: 406044
Born: York WA, 19 May 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 May 1940
Unit: No. 58 Squadron (RAF), RAF Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 58 Squadron Whitley aircraft Z9155), UK, 13 October 1941, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Leeds (Gelderd Road) English Hebrew Cemetery, Yorkshire UK
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Samuel Charles and Pearl Rich, of South Perth, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: York WA
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
At 1909 hours on the night of 12/13th October 1941, Whitley Z9155 took off from RAF Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire, detailed to bomb Nuremburg, Germany. The aircraft crashed at 0500 hours on 13 October 1941 at Allerthorpe in the vicinity of Pocklington airfield Yorkshire, while being diverted, and all the crew were killed. A few minutes before the crash the pilot radioed to say the aircraft was almost out of fuel.
The crew members of Z9155 were:
Flight Sergeant William Henry Burns (R/64045) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Hugh Edwin Donson (R/71909) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Herbert Conroy Lee (908627) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Clive Gordon Lord (402127) (Pilot)
Sergeant Joseph Geoffrey Rich (406044) (Observer)
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, 163/157/111