LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Valden Leonard BAILEY
Service No: 400687
Born: Ivanhoe VIC, 8 February 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 13 October 1940
Unit: No. 150 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Snaith
Died: Air Operations: (No. 150 Squadron Wellington aircraft X3700), Germany, 28 April 1942, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leonard Reuben and Hilma Agnes Bailey, of Ivanhoe, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Heidelberg VIC
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wellington X3700 took off from RAF Snaith at 2140 hours on the night of 27/28th April
1942, detailed to bomb Cologne, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was later learned that all the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of X3700 were:
Pilot Officer Valden Leonard Bailey (400687) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Franklin Burton Grundy (15126) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant William George Marsh (1381070) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Bernard John McGinn (1375485) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Ronald Marcus Sutton (1250695) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Alfred Wilkinson (115993) (RAFVR) (Observer)
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, 163/23/123