LEST WE FORGET

Pilot Officer George Henry TOPLIFF

Service No: 419396
Born: Oakleigh VIC, 2 July 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 July 1942
Unit: No. 206 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 206 Squadron Liberator aircraft KH410), Denmark, 21 April 1945, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Aarrestrup Churchyard, Denmark
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James and Ethel Maude Topliff, of Carnegie, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

On the night of 20/21 April 1945 Liberator KH410 took off detailed to carry out an anti-submarine patrol off the Danish coast. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed in a forest at Norland, Denmark, presumably as a result of enemy action and all the crew members were killed.

The crew members of KH410 were:

Warrant Officer Kenneth Emery (1076591) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Windsor Thomas Henry Gale (190271) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Lieutenant Commander N Guilonard (Royal Netherlands Navy) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Alan James Harding (153317) (RAFVR) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Lieutenant Peter Stevens Leinthall Laycock (151105) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer George Charles Kenneth Long (1319712) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Frederick Ralph Orritt (1432826) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Anthony Richard Tenison Smith (4214135*) (RNZAF) (Second Pilot)
Warrant Officer I Walter William Spencer (R/110774) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer I Thomas Keith Theaker (R/132255) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer George Henry Topliff (419396) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)

* Service number is from the Casualty Message and CWGC records and may not be correct

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, 166/40/598

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