LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Edward Jeptha CRABTREE
Service No: 409385
Born: Surrey Hills VIC, 13 October 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 9 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Bardney
Died: Air Operations: (No. 9 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5700), Germany, 22 September 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Abraham Booth Crabtree and Mabel Eunice Crabtree, of Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Box Hill VIC
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1856 hours on the night of 22 September 1943 Lancaster R5700 took off from Bardney to bomb Hannover, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft and it failed to return to base. A 1947 report by a Missing Research and Enquiry Unit stated “the aircraft crashed 1.5 miles west of Bad Munder presumably as a result of enemy action. Bad Munder is 16 miles south west of Hannover. All the crew members had been killed.”
The crew members of R5700 were:
Pilot Officer Edward Jeptha Crabtree (409385) (Pilot)
Sergeant Dennis Everest (R/173859) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Vincent Hirst-Gee (1451452) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Sergeant Victor James Lander (611578) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Malcolm John MacRitchie (1560316) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Warrant Officer II Nelson Albert Noble (R/119448) (RCAF) (Navigator/Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant George Alastair Sales (1803655) (RAFVR) (Navigator/Bomb Aimer)
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, 166/8/239