LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Walter Frank SPIER
Service No: 421093
Born: Gordon NSW, 1 August 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 December 1941
Unit: No. 460 Squadron, RAF Station Binbrook, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 460 Squadron Lancaster aircraft W4844), North West Europe, 3 July 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Reginald Vincent Spier and Dorothy Zoe Spier, of Warrawee, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 189, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 108, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: University of Sydney World War II Roll of Honour, Camperdown NSW
Remembered: Knox Grammar School Old Boys’ War Memorial, Wahroonga NSW
Remembered: Ku-ring-gai World War II Book of Remembrance, Gordon NSW
Date: 3-4 July 1943
Target: Cologne
Total Force: Dispatched – 653, Attacking – 589
RAAF Force: No. 460 Dispatched – 17, Attacking – 17; No. 466 Dispatched – 14, Attacking – 13; No. 467 Dispatched – 19, Attacking – 19
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 1,808
Total Aircraft Lost: 30
RAAF Aircraft Lost: No. 460 – 1; No.466 – 1
The first July raid caused heavy damage in industrial areas east of the Rhine.
Extracts from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Pages 491, 492
Lancaster W4844 took off from RAF Binbrook at 2329 hours on the night of 3rd/4th July 1943 to bomb Cologne, Germany. The bomb load was 1 x 4000 lb (pound) (1,800 kg) and 1 x 500 lb (225 kg), 1 x 400 lb (180 kg), 48 x 30, 570 x 4 and 30 x 4 lb (2 kg) incendiaries. W 4844 failed to return to base after the mission. 17 aircraft from the Squadron took part in the raid. All the crew members are missing and their names commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, UK.
The crew members of W4844 were:
Pilot Officer Clifford Edwards (411885) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Lancelott James Frazer (420653) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant William John Rees (1317610) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Walter Frank Spier (421093) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Cyril Francis Joseph Truscott (22378) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Alan Edwin Tytherleigh (1624946) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Charles Young (1074494) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
No. 466 Squadron lost Halifax aircraft HF569 (Pilot Officer James William Edmonds DFC (142522) (RAFVR) (Pilot)) on 4 July 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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/38/93
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Firkins, P. C. (Peter Charles) (441386) Strike and Return, Westward Ho Publishing City Beach WA, 1985