LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Colin TATE
Service No: 428810
Born: Sydney NSW, 21 February 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1942
Unit: No. 640 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Leconfield
Died: Air Operations: (No. 640 Squadron Halifax aircraft LM513), Yorkshire, 30 January 1944, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Cecil and Theresa Tate; husband of Gwynneth Tate, of Camden, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Camden NSW
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: MacArthur Park Obelisk, Camden NSW
At 1730 hours on the night of the 30 January 1944, Halifax LM513 took off from Leconfield detailed to bomb Berlin. On return from the mission, the Pilot signalled that he only had three engines working and that he had difficulty in controlling the aircraft. The aircraft crashed at 2230 hours 1.5 miles from Catfoss aerodrome, East Yorkshire, and all the crew members were killed. The aircraft struck the ground at a fairly steep angle of approximately 30 degrees on an even keel but in a down position.
The crew members of LM513 were:
Pilot Officer Reginald Thomas Andrews (414745) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Douglas Affleck (160648) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flying Officer James Ferdinand Cutler (149504) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Stanley Burton Kennett (1439053) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Williamson Gray Milne (1346699) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant David Maldwyn Price (1317522) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Colin Tate (428810) (Rear Gunner)
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, 166/39/215
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line