LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Malcolm James PREECE
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 43292 (RAF)
Born: Date, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAF: Acting Pilot Officer – 10 April 1940
Unit: No. 50 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Lindholme
Died: Air Operations (No. 50 Squadron Hampden I aircraft X3004), North West Europe, 8 December 1940, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Cleopatra Preece, and stepson of Harold Illingworth, of Devonport, Tasmania, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 9, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Commemorative Roll, Australian War Memorial, Canberra
Pilot Officer Preece was an Australian Cadet accepted for training by the RAF who embarked for the UK on 12 August 1939.
At 1810 hours on 8 December 1940, Hampden X3004 took off from Lindholme to attack Dusseldorf, Germany. The aircraft was lost without trace and all four crew members are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
The crew members of X3004 were:
Sergeant Francis Arthur Buckle (638746) (RAF) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Robert Trevor Mulligan (41864) (RAF) (Pilot) (from New Zealand)
Pilot Officer Malcolm James Preece (43292) (RAF) (Observer)
Sergeant Cyril James Smith (612904) (RAF) (Wireless Operator)
References:
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll On-Line Records
Chorley, W.R. Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War Volume 1 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1939-1940, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1992
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Newton, Dennis A Few of the Few: Australians and the Battle of Britain, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT 2600, 1990