LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Dugald John WATSON
Service No: 417914
Born: Newcastle NSW, 22 October 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1942 (at Adelaide SA)
Unit: No. 466 Squadron, RAF Driffield, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 466 Squadron Halifax aircraft LW172), Yorkshire, 9 April 1945, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Watson, of Prospect, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 110, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Remembered: The Capt. Clarence Smith Jeffries (V.C.) and Pte. William Matthew Currey (V.C.) Memorial Wall, Sandgate NSW
Remembered: Newcastle Boys High School Memorial Entrance World War II, Waratah NSW
No. 466 Squadron was not so fortunate four nights later (8-9 April) when 12 crews took off to attack the Blohm and Voss submarine yards at Hamburg: one Halifax failed to return and another crashed near the airfield.
Extract Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Over Europe 1944-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963 – Page 445
Halifax LW172 took off RAF Driffield at 1946 hours on the night of 8 April 1945 to bomb Hamburg, Germany. LW172 completed the mission and on return encountered fog and while trying to locate the airfield the aircraft flew into trees and crashed at 0115 hours at Kirkburn Grange Farm some 2 miles west of the aerodrome. Twelve aircraft from the Squadron took part in the raid and one of these failed to return and LW 172 crashed.
The crew members of LW172 were:
Pilot Officer Alfred John Damm (426550) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer William Gerrard Flynn DFM (158001) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Robert Michael Gale (146092) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer George Alan Halliday (427322) (Bomb Aimer)
Pilot Officer Roylance Sydney King (187081) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant William Alan Clark Patterson DFC (129483) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Dugald John Watson (417914) (Pilot)
No. 466 Squadron lost Halifax NP968 (Flying Officer Russell Richard Napier Forrest MID (Pilot)) on 8/9 April 1945.
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, 166/43/5
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line