LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Gordon Robertson BALCOMBE
Service No: 420825
Born: Dubbo NSW, 1 September 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 December 1941
Unit: No. 100 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Grimsby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 100 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND391), North West Europe, 15 February 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Gould Balcombe and Annie Laurie Balcombe, of Manly, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 257, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster ND391 took off from Grimsby at 1717hrs on the night of 15 February 1944 to bomb Berlin, but no further news was heard from the aircraft. Fourteen other aircraft from the Squadron were detailed for this trip and all returned safely. The general impression was that ground defences over the target were more intense and there was less fighter activity possibly due to cloud conditions. ND391 and its crew are missing and their names are commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing, Runnymede, Surrey.
The crew members of ND391 were:
Sergeant Robert Francis Neil Allison (1388172) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Gordon Robertson Balcombe (420825) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant John Duguid (1822307) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Joseph Michael Garde (1801142) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Ronald Parsons (1387279) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer William Clark Sharp (172286) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Ernest Edmund Tunstall (171001) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Derek Woodcroft Young (1806956) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
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, 166/5/436