LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Manuel CALLAS
Service No: 69541
Born: Sydney NSW, 23 February 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 September 1942
Unit: No. 23 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Little Snoring
Died: Air Operations (No. 23 Squadron Mosquito aircraft PZ436), Germany, 13 March 1945, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Peter and Irene Callas, of Vaucluse, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
University of Sydney World War 2 Roll of Honour, Camperdown NSW
At 1858 hours on the night of 13 March 1945 Mosquito PZ436 took-off from Little Snoring to carry out an intruder patrol of Handorf and Munster airfields, Germany. At 2052 hours Flight Lieutenant Thomas patrolling as ‘O’ received a message from PZ436 saying they were going to drop their target indicators, and they saw the indicators burning. Since then nothing has been heard from PZ436 and the aircraft failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft crashed at Handorf aerodrome and both the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of PZ436 were:
Flying Officer Manuel Callas (69541) (Navigator/Radio)
Lieutenant Edmund Lighnon (30605) (Free French Forces) (Pilot) *
* Not CWGC listed
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, 166/7/892
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line