LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer John Joseph Francis RYAN
Service No: 428364
Born: Echuca VIC, 10 June 1911
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1942
Unit: No. 44 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Spilsby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 44 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ME442), Lincolnshire, 4 March 1945, Aged 33 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Frederick and Julia Ryan; husband of Jean Elizabeth Ryan, of Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Hawthorn VIC
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1942 hours on the night of 3 March 1945 Lancaster ME442 took off from Spilsby to raid the Dortmund-Ems canal at a point near Ladbergen. When homebound ME442 was shot down by an enemy intruder aircraft (Operation Gisela) at about 0100 hours on 4 March and the aircraft crashed among trees in Grannington Park on the Brocklesby Estate near Grimsby, Lincolnshire. All on board the aircraft were killed.
The crew members of ME442 were:
Sergeant Harry Birch (1575035) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Thomas Handley Jarman (3010499) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Herbert Payne (1589407) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant William Henry Rogan (2218611) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Richard Raven Russell (1801287) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flying Officer John Joseph Francis Ryan (428364) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Hubert Joseph Terry (1580082) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/36/493