LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Albert Francois BUTTEL
Service No: 403717
Born: Sydney NSW, 14 March 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 March 1941
Unit: No. 49 Squadron (RAF), RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 49 Squadron Lancaster aircraft L7469), North Sea, 7 June 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Sage War Cemetery, Oldenburg, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Mark Albert and Jane Laidlaw Buttel, of Oatley, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Hurstville NSW
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Oatley War Memorial, Oatley NSW
Lancaster L7469 took off from RAF Scampton at 2313 hours on the night of 6 June 1942 to bomb Essen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. All of the crew members lost their lives and it was presumed the aircraft was lost over the sea.
The crew members of L7469 were:
Sergeant Albert Francois Buttel (403717) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Douglas Stephen Halliday (1360282) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Lewis James Jones (924063) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Squadron Leader Peter Morrice De Mestre DSO DFC (41678) (RAF) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Ronald Henry James Thorndyke (119173) (RAF) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Maxwell Elliott Whitehill (407022) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant George Clive Whitfield (1166974) (RAFVR) (Wireless 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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/94/232
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line