LEST WE FORGET
Squadron Leader Lionel Rees COHEN
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 39497 (RAF)
Born: Lismore NSW, 1912
Enlisted in the RAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 150 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Snaith, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 150 Squadron Wellington aircraft BJ881), France, 30 July 1942, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Pihen-les-Guines War Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Reginald Arthur and Gwendoline Cohen; husband of Caroline Mary Cohen, of Nevern, Pembrokeshire
Roll of Honour: Unknown
At 2340 hours on 29 July 1942, Wellington BJ881 took off from Snaith to attack Saarbrucken, Germany. The aircraft crashed near Pihen-les-Guines (Pas-de-Calais), 10 kms south-west of Calais and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of BJ881 were:
Squadron Lionel Rees Cohen (39497) (RAF) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Herbert John Ivory (112553) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Alfred James (1260203) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Joseph Frank Whittaker (1202337) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Sergeant Desmond Albert York (1326506) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
References:
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 3 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1942, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1994
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Newton, Dennis First Impact, Banner Books, Maryborough QLD 4650, 1997