LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer John Henry CRONE
Service No: 419521
Born: St Arnaud VIC, 8 December 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 August 1942
Unit: No. 15 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Mildenhall
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 15 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB803), Norfolk, 17 January 1945, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Clifford and Agnes Crone, of Donald, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Donald VIC
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1603 hours on 17 January 1945 Lancaster PB803 took off from Mildenhall on a cross country/ bombing training exercise. The Pilot had been ordered to do practice bombing on the range on return from the cross country flight. The weather conditions were favourable. PB802 was last heard from at 2129 hours when it requested a QDM (magnetic heading to base). The aircraft crashed at 2133 hours near the Rushford bombing range at Harling, when it dived vertically into the ground and burst into flames. Harling is about 8 miles east north east of Thetford, Norfolk. All the crew members were killed in the crash.
The crew members of PB802 were:
Flying Officer John Henry Crone (419521) (Pilot)
Sergeant Richard Devlin (1881244) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Harry Harold Freedman (176265) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer William Ernest Fuller (176263) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant George Russell Lake (1183934) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Lex Maitland Riordan (426468) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Leonard Richard Wilkins (1801112) (RAFVR) (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, 166/8/828