Aircraft | Handley Page Halifax III |
Serial Number | MZ647 |
Markings | DY-R |
Burial/Memorial Country | Germany |
Burial/Memorial Place | Rheinberg War Cemetery |
Grave Reference | Coll. grave 8. E. 7-11.. |
Epitaph | HIS DUTY FEARLESSLY AND NOBLY DONE. LOVED AND REMEMBERED |
Phase | 2 |
Panel Number | 171 |
Service Number | 423711 |
Service | Royal Australian Air Force |
Group | 4 |
Squadron | 102 (Ceylon) |
Trade | Air Gunner |
Country of origin if different | Australia |
Doughty J C (Sgt) |
Finney J V (Sgt) |
Harvey A H (P/O) |
Osborne R R H (P/O) |
Walker K L (F/O) |
York G (P/O) |
Young P E (F/L) |
Start Date | 12-08-1944 |
End Date | 13-08-1944 |
Takeoff Station | Pocklington |
Day/Night raid | Night |
Operation | Russelsheim to bomb the Opel motor factory, with normal PFF marking (unlike the concurrent Braunschweig raid). 297 aircraft, 20 losses (6.7%). Only slight damage was inflicted with may of the bombs falling in open countryside. |
Reason for Loss | Shot down by a night fighter flown by Uffz. Gustav Sarzio of 6./NJG1, 33km North of Kaiserslautern altitude 5,000m at 00:21, and crashed 300m north of Rehborn Railway Station at about 0100 hours on 13 August 1944. All of the crew were initially buried in Rehborn cemetery and subsequently moved to Reheinberg War Cemetery. It was unfortunately not possible to identify each of the bodies individually, hence they are buried in a collective grave. |