LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Mervyn Kevin BURKE
Service No: 403183
Born: Gulgong NSW, 13 June 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 December 1940
Unit: No. 405 Squadron (RCAF), RAF Station Topcliffe
Died: Air Operations (No. 405 Squadron Halifax aircraft W1274), Denmark, 24 September 1942, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Aabenraa Cemetery, Denmark
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred Joseph and Alison Ann Burke, of Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Randwick NSW
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the morning of 24 September 1942, Halifax W1274 took off from Topcliffe at 0019 hours detailed to bomb Flensburg, Germany. The aircraft crashed at Elso Moor some 6 kms north east of Padborg, a Danish frontier town with Germany. All the crew members were killed in the crash.
The crew members of W1274 were:
Flight Sergeant Mervyn Kevin Burke (403183) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Edward Emile Gervais (J/15815) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant John Hyman Kaufman (1255416) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant John Ott (R/4418) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Maxwell Rankin (R/62139) (RCAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant William Sheldon (1112127) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer William Miskimon Webb (J/15991) (RCAF) (Pilot)
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, 163/94/288