LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Frank Edwin WATKIN
Service No: 418895
Born: Brighton VIC, 16 June 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 June 1942
Unit: No. 640 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Leconfield
Died: Air Operations: (No. 640 Squadron Halifax aircraft NP965), Belgium, 2 March 1945, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Hevelee War Cemetery, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Stanley Entwisle Watkin and Alice Mary Watkin; husband of Rosaline Edith Watkin, of Malvern, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Malvern VIC
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0740 hours on 2 March 1945, Halifax NP965 took off from Leconfield detailed to bomb Cologne, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. On the return journey, the aircraft crashed while trying to make an emergency landing behind allied lines and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of NP965 were:
Flight Sergeant Charles Kenneth Fielder (2206034) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Benjamin Francis O’Neill (425048) (Air Bomber)
Flight Lieutenant Kenneth Robinson DFM (117514) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Donald Henry George Tiley (1853257) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant James Henry William Turner (1813672) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Frank Edwin Watkin (418895) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Harold Wolfson (424253) (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, 166/43/1192