LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant Cleveland Charles WATSON

Service No: 434547
Born: Yorktown SA, 29 April 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 January 1943 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 467 Squadron, RAF Station Waddington, Lincolnshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 467 Squadron Lancaster aircraft NF908), Staffordshire, 3 January 1945, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Chester (Blacon) Cemetery, Cheshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harry and Mary Annetta Watson, of Glen Osmond, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Werribee VIC
Remembered: Panel 111, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

Lancaster NF908 took off from RAF Waddington at 1430 hours on 3 January 1945 on a fighter affiliation training exercise. At about 1600 hours the aircraft flew into high ground that was shrouded in cloud some 4 kms north north east of Leek, Staffordshire. All the crew members were killed.

The crew members of NF908 were:

Flying Officer Walter Vernon Wilfred Allamby (428516) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Geoffrey James Dunbar (424391) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Richard Emonson (430484) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Norman Lees (2218806) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant Jack Ivan Pritchard (421047) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Cleveland Charles Watson (434547) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Thomas Edward Harold Wright (430728) (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 A9301, 434547

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