LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Donald Leighton Spence BARR
Service No: 409649
Born: Essendon VIC, 3 March 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1941
Unit: No. 103 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Elsham Wolds
Died: Air Operations: (No. 103 Squadron Lancaster aircraft W4363), North West Europe, 7 July 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leslie Albert Leighton Barr and Gwendoline Rebecca Barr, of Elwood, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brighton VIC
Remembered: Panel 192, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster W4363 took off from Station Elsham Wolds at 2228 hours on the night of 6 July 1943 to lay mines in the Gironde River, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of W4363 Were:
Flight Sergeant Donald Leighton Spence Barr (409649) (Pilot)
Sergeant Henry Gardner (1029631) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Ronald Francis Garside (1125865) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Raymond Hollas (1493771) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Gerald Henry Isaacs (409550) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Peter Maynard (1719973) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Desmond Frank Oswald Turner (1606517) (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, 166/5/212
Bibliography:
Charlwood, D.E.C. (Donald Ernest Cameron) (408794) No Moon Tonight (Angus and Robertson 1956), Penguin Ringwood VIC, 3134, 1991