LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Alfred Newton VIDLER
Service No: 413049
Born: Blayney NSW, 10 February 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 61 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Syerston
Died: Air Operations: (No. 61 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JA900), Germany, 18 August 1943, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Stephen Emerson Vidler and Edith Maud Vidler, of Blayney, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Blayney NSW
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2129 hours on the night of 17August 1943 Lancaster JA900 took off from Syerston detailed to bomb Peenemunde, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was lost and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of JA900 were:
Pilot Officer Richard John Robert Docker (155782) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Ernest George Francis (656057) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Stanley William James (1334586) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Richard Laughton (1165343) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Leonard Lucas (1536584) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Peter William Mitchell (1809346) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Robert Urquhart (R/90824) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer Alfred Newton Vidler (413049) (Second Pilot)
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, 166/42/31