Zingelmann, Leonard William
Personal Information
Rank | F/S |
Forename(s) | Leonard William |
Surname | Zingelmann |
Gender | M |
Age | 32 |
Date of Death | 07-06-1944 |
Next of Kin | Son of William (Wilhelm) Carl and Alice Maud Zingelmann (née Abell), of Boonah, Queensland, Australia. |
Aircraft Information
Aircraft | Avro Lancaster III |
Serial Number | NE173 |
Markings | PM-F |
Memorial Information
Burial/Memorial Country | France |
Burial/Memorial Place | Bretteville-Sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery |
Grave Reference | XII. C. 12. |
Epitaph | A PRESBYTERIAN. EVER REMEMBERED BY DAD, MUM, MAY AND JEAN |
IBCC Memorial Information
Phase | 1 |
Panel Number | 120 |
Enlistment Information
Service Number | 426944 |
Service | Royal Australian Air Force |
Group | 1 |
Squadron | 103 |
Squadron Motto | Noli me tangere (Touch me not) |
Trade | Air Gunner |
Country of Origin | Australia |
Other Memorials
Location | All Saints Church, Elsham, Lincolnshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Inscribed Stone Tablet |
Memorial Text | Dedicated to all who served at RAF Elsham Wolds on 103 7 576 Squadrons 1941-45 |
Location | Anglian Water Treatment Works, Elsham Wolds, Lincolnshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Inscribed Stone Pillar & Plaques |
Memorial Text | Pillar : RAF Elsham Wolds, 1941-1945, For those who made the great sacrifice. Plaque :This tree is dedicated to all those who served with 103 Squadron Royal Air Force. Plaque : RAF Elsham Wolds, Opened in Summer 1941 as a bomber station in No1 group, it w |
Miscellaneous Information
His epitaph reads "A PRESBYTERIAN. EVER REMEMBERED BY DAD, MUM, MAY AND JEAN" |
Bill Way RCAF (as he was known) and his crew were posted from 1656 HCU at RAF Lindholme to 103 Squadron at Elsham Wolds on the 9 February 1944. |
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The National Archives
Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/816/12 |
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/816/11 |
Fellow Servicemen
Please note that this list gives all the losses aboard the quoted aircraft and occasionally these may have occurred on an earlier date when the aircraft was not itself lost. Please check the dates of death carefully.
Last Operation Information
Start Date | 06-06-1944 |
End Date | 07-06-1944 |
Takeoff Station | Elsham Wolds |
Day/Night Raid | Night (100% moon) |
Operation | To bomb two railway bridges situated at Vire in Calvados, Northern France which was an important road and rail junction on the River Vire which would have been used to supply any German invasion effort. |
Reason for Loss | Take off 2140. To bomb communication lines in Vire. Approaching the target, they were shot at by night fighter. With both wings on fire NE173 continued its bombing run and bombed the markers. It is possible the crew shot the attacking fighter down. Just beyond the target and still on fire, NE173 made a slow descending turn 180 degrees to port flying back in the direction from which it had come. The pilot seems to have attempted a crash landing in a field at Maisonseule, about 2 miles NE of Vire. Witnesses on the ground say the Lancaster hit the ground at a very shallow angle which broke off the tail. The main section of the aircraft continued at some speed along the ground, shedding burning wreckage, coming to rest yards from a farmhouse close to Omaha beach. No crew baled out. All seven crew killed |