LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer John Herbert TINSLEY
Service No: 428373
Born: Port Melbourne VIC, 31 October 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1942
Unit: No. 12 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Wickenby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 12 Squadron Lancaster aircraft MN741), Germany, 7 March 1945, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Ernest and Elizabeth Ann Tinsley, of Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; husband of Dorothy Elizabeth Tinsley, of Preston, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster MN741 took off from Wickenby at 1648 hours on the night of 7 March 1945 to bomb Dessau, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. Post war a Missing Research and Enquiry Unit reported “the Burgomeister of Nuertingen stated that a four engine bomber was hit by anti-aircraft fire over the village on the night of 7/8 March 1945. The aircraft rapidly lost height and crashed 2 kms east of the village, exploded on impact and caught fire.” All the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of MN741 were:
Flight Lieutenant Denis Belot DFC (177135) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Laurence Burbidge (1880298) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Percy Cotton (1581247) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Clifford Daintith DFM (1671699) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Laurence Herbert Shaiel-Goshing (1608322) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer John Herbert Tinsley (428373) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant Ernest Cecil Matthew Trott (1594186) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
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, 166/39/106