LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Lyle Edward BOWES
Service No: 419253
Born: Canterbury VIC, 26 January 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 July 1942
Unit: No. 207 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Spilsby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 207 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LM578), off the Dutch Coast, 22 June 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Edward and Gladys Anna Wilhelmina Bowes, of Frankston, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Frankston VIC
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2321 hours on the night of 21 June1944 Lancaster LM578 took off from Spilsby detailed to bomb Wesseling. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed into the sea off the Dutch coast and all the crew members were killed. Four bodies were eventually found and buried, and the other four crew members have no known graves.
The crew members of LM578 were:
Flying Officer Lyle Edward Bowes (419253) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer Charles David Boyce (J/88500) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Douglas John Faires (140862) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Leslie Frederick Jackson (1339328) (RAFVR) (Second Air Bomber)
Sergeant Ronald Charles McArthur (1823181) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Kenneth Walter Sansom (1418517) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Henry Archibald Shaw (1075175) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Trevor Tressler Smart DFC (151288) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
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, 166/6/586