LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Terence Lansdowne AWCOCK
Service No: 406988
Born: Bridgetown WA, 19 January 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 August 1941
Unit: No. 44 Squadron (RAF), RAF Dunholme Lodge, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 44 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB535), North West Europe, 12 September 1944, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Peter Herbert and Cecilia May Awcock, of Bridgetown, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Bridgetown WA
Remembered: Panel 259, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Lancaster PB535 of No 44 Squadron took off from RAF Station Dunholme Lodge at 2044 hours on the night of 11 September 1944 , to attack Darmstadt, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. It was later established that the aircraft crashed at 0130 hours on 12th September 1944 at Roxheim, a small town 6 kms south of Worms, Germany. All seven crew members were killed. Flying Officer Lade and Flying Officer Hourigan are buried in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany, and following post war investigations and enquiries, it was recorded in 1950 that the remaining crew members had no known grave.
The crew members of PB535 were:
Warrant Officer Terence Lansdowne Awcock (406988) (Navigator)
Sergeant Maurice Benjamin (1671182) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Henry John Conquest (429450) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Ivan Patrick Hourigan (410668) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Donald Stephen Lade (418130) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Joseph Archibald Wilson McCallum DFC (173828) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Thomas Starkie (548376) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
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, 166/4/155