LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Cecil Raymond STUBBS
Service No: 21315
Born: Sydney NSW, 9 September 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 June 1940
Unit: No. 57 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Scampton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 57 Squadron Lancaster aircraft W4234), Belgium, 21 December 1942, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Geraardsbergen Communal Cemetery, (Oost-Vlaanderen), Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Albert and Francess Annie Stubbs; husband of Ailsa Rose Stubbs, of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Newcastle NSW
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1737 hours on the night of 21 December 1942 Lancaster W4234 took off from Scampton detailed to bomb Munich, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was attacked by a night fighter and crashed at 2330 hours at St-Martens-Lierde (Oost-Vlaanderen), 16 kms east south east of Oudenaarde, Belgium. Six of the crew members were killed and one became a Prisoner of War.
The crew members of W4234 were:
Sergeant Arthur Leslie Abraham (1177690) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Ronald Alfred Bowles (110640) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Arthur Drain (1394720) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Alexander Eric Mulholland (119205) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Maurice Charles Pearman (1067033) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant P B Pickford (41164) (RNZAF) (Mid Upper Gunner) PoW
Sergeant Cecil Raymond Stubbs (21315) (Flight Engineer)
In a later report Sergeant Pickford stated “attacked by a night fighter. Plane on fire. Put on parachutes ordered. Heard no more of inter-com conversation and when I saw situation was hopeless I jumped. I think I lost consciousness and when I regained it I was about 400 yards from the crashed aircraft. I saw 6 bodies of the crew but was not allowed to go near them.”
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, 163/163/369