LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Alan Forster CUNNINGHAM
Service No: 418038
Born: Echuca VIC, 14 March 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 April 1942
Unit: No. 51 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Snaith
Died: Air Operations: Campaign against Oil (No. 51 Squadron Halifax aircraft MZ343), Germany, 6 October 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arnold Forster Cunningham and Nellie Irene Cunningham, of Echuca, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Echuca VIC
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1439 hours on 6 October 1944 Halifax MZ343 took off from Snaith detailed to bomb Sterkrade, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft as lost and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of MZ343 were:
Flight Lieutenant Raisbeck Dennis Bell (63454) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Alan Forster Cunningham (418038) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant John James Harris (937401) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Frank Longbottom (1595130) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Walter Howard Hill Matthews (1030709) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Eric Meering (1896332) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Martin Jack Stanley Mohr (153714) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/8/671