LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Charles Francis WATSON
Service No: 401258
Born: Junee NSW, 14 August 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 January 1941
Unit: No. 50 Squadron (RAF), RAF Swinderby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 50 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5909), Baltic Sea, 23 September 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Svino Churchyard Cemetery, Denmark
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Francis Thomas Hughes Watson and Ellen Rose Watson, of Lockhart, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Lockhart and District War Memorial, Lockhart NSW
Lancaster R 5909 of No. 50 Squadron took off From RAF Station Swinderby at 2302 hours on 22 September 1942 to attack Weimar, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was established that the aircraft had exploded in the air and crashed in the Baltic Sea off the Isle of Laaland, Denmark. The bodies of two crew members were washed ashore and the remaining five crew members are recorded as having lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of R5909 were:
Sergeant James William Carnley (403161) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant George Kenneth Dickenson (934810) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Rex Alfred Gotts (400981) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Harold Arthur Phillips (407873) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant William Henry Trottier (574134) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Henry James Wade (749341) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Charles Francis Watson (401258) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia on-Line Record A705, 163/176/379
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line