LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Gordon Christopher TOWNEND
Service No: 422765
Born: Thornaby, England, 22 November 1911
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 May 1942 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 115 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Witchford
Died: Air Operations: Campaign against Oil (No. 115 Squadron Lancaster aircraft HK545), Germany, 13 June 1944, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Sherwood and Elizabeth Mary Townend, of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2332 hours on the night of 12 June 1944 Lancaster HK545 took off from Witchford detailed to bomb Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed into the Headquarters of the Gelsenberg-Benzin, 3 kms west of Gelsenkirchen. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of HK545 were:
Flying Officer Ian William Entwistle (RNZAF) (41400) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Anthony Frederick William Farley (1382100) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Parkyn (1393242) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Squadron Leader Wallace Gordon Shadforth DFC (61040) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Gordon Christopher Townend (422765) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Alfred Joseph Veale DFM (1853807) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Robert Walker Thomas Weir DFM (1370487) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air 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, 166/40/206
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line