LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Melville George DELATORRE
Service No: 402590
Born: Broken Hill NSW, 24 April 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 September 1940
Unit: No. 207 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Langar
Died: Air Operations: (No. 207 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED365), Germany, 3 March 1943, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Hamburg Cemetery, Hamburg, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Celis Victor and Ina Pearl Delatorre; husband of Marie Elizabeth Delatorre, of Auburn, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Auburn NSW
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Auburn R.S.L. WWII Honour Roll, Auburn NSW
Remembered: Auburn District Memorial, Auburn NSW
At 1900 hours on the night of 3 March 1943 Lancaster ED365 took off from Langar detailed to bomb Hamburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at Wedel, 16 kms west of Hamburg, and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of ED365 were:
Warrant Officer II William Edward Cain (R/85910 (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Melville George Delatorre (402590) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Peter Evison (657231) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Raymond Walter Ernest Holley (626498) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Bernard Johnson (127493) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Lewis Reginald Thompson (1253760) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Warrant Officer II William Victor Wallace (R/92287) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
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, 166/9/39
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line