LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Frank Alexander BLACK
Service No: 429371
Born: Brisbane QLD, 19 March 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 September 1942
Unit: No. 57 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station East Kirkby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 57 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PD264), Germany, 6 December 1944, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Hanover War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter Samuel and Florence Elsie Black, of East Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1639 hours on the night of 6 December 1944 Lancaster PD264 took off from East Kirkby detailed to bomb Giessen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A report by a Missing Research and Enquiry team stated “the aircraft was returning from a raid in Germany when it was shot down by a night fighter at approximately 2100 hours at Erdhausen, 12 miles north west of Giessen.” Five of the crew members were killed in the crash, and two became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of PD264 were:
Flight Sergeant Frank Alexander Black (429371) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant J Forward (1666426) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner) PoW
Flight Sergeant Peter Douglas Mann (1601233) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Neil Francis Dallaway McGladrigan (426895) (Air Bomber) PoW, Fatally injured, Died: 10 December 1944
Sergeant Robert Shaw McKillop (1826753) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer William Riddell (185681) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Scott (644319) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/5/846