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Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.
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463 Squadron badge
24/25.04.1944 No. 463 Squadron Lancaster I LL848 JO-X P/O. Page

Operation: München

Date: 24/25th April 1944

Unit: No. 463 Squadron

Type: Lancaster I

Serial: LL848

Coded: JO-X

Base: RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire

Location: Sulzemoos, Dachau

Pilot: P/O. Eric Walton Page 410171 AUS/RAAF Age 21. Killed

Fl/Eng: Sgt. Stanley Ralph Crate 1608732 RAFVR Age ? Killed

Nav: P/O. Thomas Worthington Fair J/86024 RCAF Age 27. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: F/O. John Sidney Braithwaite AUS/411479 RAAF Age 28. Killed

Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. Edwin Ryland Brown AUS/426302 RAAF Age 23. Killed

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Ronald Guile 1675093 RAFVR Age ? Killed

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Gordon Hughie Noakes AUS/424570 RAAF Age 20. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off at 21.05 hrs from Waddington, Lincolnshire to attack Munich. Part of a force of 249 Lancasters and 16 Mosquitoes. 

The flak over the target area had been enormous with a total of 49,074 flak shells fired at up to heights of 22,000 ft which accounted for 4 Lancasters being shot down. 

However LL848 was shot down by Oblt. Andres Lembeke at a height of 17,000 ft and crashed Sulzemoos, near Dachau at 02.09 hrs. Oblt. Lembeke survived the war and this was his only kill. 

LL848 pictured here on an earlier flight

 

463 Squadron Lancasters at RAF Waddington (Aircrew Remembered archive)

   

                        

Photographs of the crew graves were especially taken for Aircrew Remembered by David Franklin. He has provided permission to allow us to send (higher def) copies to any relative free of charge.

Burial Details:

Originally the complete crew were buried in München-Westenfriedhof but on 15th November 1947 their remains were taken to the Durnbach War Cemetery.

P/O. Eric Walton Page. Durnbach War Cemetery Coll. grave 7, E.21-24. Son of Ralph Eric and Dorothy Agnes Page, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Sgt. Stanley Ralph Crate. Durnbach War Cemetery Coll. grave 7, E.21-24. Son of Alfred and Annie Crate, of Fordington, Dorchester, Dorsetshire, England.

P/O. Thomas Worthington Fair. Durnbach War Cemetery Coll. grave 7, E.21-24. Son of Thomas Worthington Fair and Anne Fair.

F/O. John Sidney Braithwaite. Durnbach War Cemetery Coll. grave 7, E.21-24. Son of Sidney Michael and Anne Elizabeth, of Griffith, New South Wales, Australia. Engaged to the sister of the highest decorated air gunner in R.A.A.F. Norman Williams.

Right: Wireless Operator F/O. John Braithwaite

Fl/Sgt. Edwin Ryland Brown. Durnbach War Cemetery Coll. grave 7, E.21-24. Son of James Ernest Herbert and Sylvia Jessie, of Hamilton, Queensland, Australia.

Sgt. Ronald Guile. Durnbach War Cemetery Coll. grave 7, E.21-24. No further details as yet.

Sgt. Gordon Hughie Noakes. Durnbach War Cemetery Coll. grave 7, E.21-24. Son of Charles and Annie Noakes, of Bedgerebong, New South Wales, Australia.

With thanks to David Franklin, Mike Harrison, Bill Chorley - "Bomber Command Losses Vol 3", Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vol's. 1 and  2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', The Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

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Acknowledgements
Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
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