LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Robert Edward BUTT
Service No: 420858
Born: Sydney NSW, 4 May 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 December 1941
Unit: No. 44 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Dunholme Lodge
Died: Air Operations (No. 44 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND538), Germany, 22 March 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Augustus and Margaret Annie Butt, of Petersham, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1856 hours on the night of 22 March 1944 Lancaster ND538 took off from Dunholme Lodge to bomb Frankfurt, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. Later a Missing Research and Enquiry Unit reported that “the aircraft exploded in the air and crashed on 22 March 1944 near Brauneberg on the Mosel.” Brauneberg is 19 miles north east of Trier, Germany. Four of the crew members were killed and three became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of ND538 were:
Sergeant G H Butland (1591200) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Pilot Officer Robert Edward Butt (420858) (Pilot)
Sergeant George Donald (1553633) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant James Shaw (2211323) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer A R Sparrow (151356) (RAFVR) (Navigator) POW
Flight Sergeant George Charles Spurden (1442428) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant R J Whiter (1272165) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer) PoW
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, 166/6/451