LEST WE FORGET

Wing Commander Donald Teale SAVILLE DSO DFC DFM

From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force

Service No: 74738 (RAFVR)
Born: Portland NSW, 22 December 1903
Enlisted in the RAF: 1928
Unit: No. 218 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Downham Market
Died: Air Operations: (No. 218 Squadron Stirling III aircraft BF567), Germany, 25 July 1943, Aged 39 Years
Buried: Hamburg Cemetery, Ohlsdorf, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: No further information
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Commemorative Roll, Australian War Memorial, Canberra
Remembered: Manly ANZAC War Memorial, Manly NSW

Wing Commander Saville was an Australian Cadet trained for the RAF who embarked for the UK on 18 December 1927. He discharged from the RAF on 30 April 1936 and later joined the RAFVR.

Stirling BF567 took off from Downham Market to attack Hamburg, Germany. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at Einfield, Germany, with all but one of the crew members being killed.

The crew members of BF567 were:

Flight Sergeant Hugh Walter Beavis (417003) (RNZAF) (Second Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant John Lancelot Birbeck DFC (116801) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer William Job Brighton (147921) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Harold Cedric Eyre (117158) (RAFVR) PoW
Pilot Officer Thomas Darling Fairgrieve DFM (51686) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Adam Black Seaton Howat (979354) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Wing Commander Donald Teale Saville DSO DFC DFM (74738) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant Thomas Albert Stanley DFC (113849) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)

References:

Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll On-Line Records
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command losses of the Second World War, Volume 4 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1943, Midland Counties Publications, Leicester, 1996
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/37/151
Newton, Dennis A Few of the Few: Australians and the Battle of Britain, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT 2600, 1990
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line

Bibliography:

Alexander, P. (Peter) We Find and Destroy: history of No. 458 Squadron, The 458 Squadron Council, 1959
Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954

Book Now Book Now