LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Malcolm James BANKS
Service No: 16249
Born: Geraldton WA, 20 January 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 April 1940
Unit: No. 50 Squadron (RAF), RAF Skellingthorpe, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 50 Squadron Lancaster aircraft EE189), Germany, 27 September 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Hanover War Cemetery, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Archie Alan William and Nellie Adeline Banks, of Geraldton, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Geraldton WA
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Lancaster EE189 took off from RAF Skellingthorpe at 1931 hours on the night of 27/28th September 1943 detailed to bomb Hanover, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. A report by a Missing Research & Enquiry team stated “the aircraft crashed at approximately 2200 hours near the village of Gross Forste, 12 miles south east of Hanover. Six crew members were killed and one became a Prisoner of War.
The crew members of EE189 were:
Pilot Officer Malcolm James Banks (16249) (Pilot)
Sergeant Ian Nichol Ferguson Cameron (1342504) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Harry William Frederick Cooke (1334284) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Leonard Cecil Jordan (1377409) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Albert Henry Simpkin (848625) (RAF (Auxiliary Air Force)) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant William Thomas Smith (1049079) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Rodney Coombs Tonkin (417431) (Air Gunner) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 19 November 1945
A later report by Flight Sergeant Tonkin stated “the only information I can give is that the Germans informed me that Banks was discovered in the crashed aircraft and was not alive. Also the five others had lost their lives.”
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/5/300