LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Richard Herbert WATTS
Service No: 425389
Born: Pittsworth QLD, 9 September 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 February 1942
Unit: No. 626 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Wickenby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 626 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LL753), France, 4 May 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Herbert and Edith Watts, of Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 259, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster LL753 took off from Wickenby at 2211 hours on 3 May 1944 to attack a target at Mailey-Le-Camp, France. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. In 1947, following post war enquiries and interrogations of local authorities of Breuverysur-
Coole, France, it was established that an aircraft exploded and crashed near that village on the night of 3/4th May 1944, and that two bodies were recovered. It was recorded that the remaining missing crew members had no known grave.
The crew members of LL753 were:
Sergeant Arthur George Brooks (1836404) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer David Stuart Jackson (171902) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer John Martin Burns Liebscher (J/88775) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer Ross Edward MacFarlane (J/86119) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer Horace Albert Riddle (172907) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant James Arthur Ivan Sutton (1627424) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Richard Herbert Watts (425389) (Wireless Operator/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, 166/43/650