LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Lloyd Watson THOMAS
Service No: 402282
Born: Sydney NSW, 5 November 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 July 1940
Unit: No. 61 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Syerston
Died: Air Operations: (No. 61 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5888), Germany, 10 September 1942, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert William and Eva Elizabeth Thomas, of Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Katoomba NSW
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2031 hours on the night of 10 September 1942 Lancaster R5888 took off from Syerston detailed to bomb Dusseldorf, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was lost in the target area and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of R5888 were:
Sergeant Wilfred Thomas Belton (1058416) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner, under training Air Bomber)
Sergeant Ernest West Catlin (1076033) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Philip Haig Fairbanks (1112526) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant G A Hill (819006) (RAF (Auxiliary Air Force)) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Frank Hobson (912096) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Lloyd Watson Thomas (402282) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Albert Cranston Yates (R/70975) (RCAF) (Mid Upper 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, 166/39/49