LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Keith Ormond BARNES DFC
Service No: 409370
Born: Newport VIC, 6 March 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 49 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Fiskerton
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), 15 February 1944 (Citation Title: No. 49 Squadron RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 49 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB360), Germany, 28 January 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edwin Robert and Hilda Elizabeth Barnes, of Williamstown, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Williamstown VIC
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1725 hours on the night of 27 January 1944 Lancaster JB360 took off from Fiskerton to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A later report by a Missing Research and Enquiry team stated “the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter, exploded in the air and crashed in the vicinity of Ahrensdorf, which is approximately 36 miles south east of Berlin. Three crew members were killed and the other four became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of JB360 were:
Flight Sergeant J C Atkinson (171188) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Pilot Officer Keith Ormond Barnes DFC (409370) (Pilot)
Sergeant George Edward Greenwood (1169099) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant D Grimley DFC (1431274) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber) PoW
Warrant Officer I John Travers Hill (R/147614) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant A Marshall (1577388) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Flight Sergeant D W McPhee (J/86194) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner) PoW
A later PoW report Flight Sergeant Atkinson stated “when the aircraft got into difficulties over a position 30 miles south of Berlin, Pilot Officer Barnes was still at the controls. The navigator saw the Engineer assist Barnes with his parachute. The aircraft then almost immediately blew up and the Germans said that Barnes was killed.”
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, 166/5/413