LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant John Reginald DODDS DFC
Service No: 403838
Born: Kempsey NSW, 16 April 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 March 1941
Unit: No. 156 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Upwood
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), 21 December 1945
Died: Air Operations: (No. 156 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND409), Germany, 28 April 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Albert Edward and Edith Ann Dodds, of Bellimbopinni, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Kempsey NSW
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Lismore Cenotaph, Lismore NSW
The Citation for the DFC awarded to the then Flying Officer Dodds is a General Citation promulgated in London Gazette on 21 December 1945 on page 6208.
At 2235 hours on the night of 27 April 1944 Lancaster ND409 took off from Upwood detailed to bomb Friedrichshafen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed in a wooded area 1km west of Neuhausen (Engen), and 2 kms south of Engen. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of ND409 were:
Flight Lieutenant John Reginald Dodds DFC (403838) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Group Captain Eric Cecil Eaton DFC (37224) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Kenneth Gordon Franklin DFC (402991) (RNZAF) (Air Bomber)
Squadron Leader Leslie Henry Glasspool DFC (110789) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Lieutenant Colin Alfred Kidd (42952) (RAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Robert George Sharland DFC (138832) (RAF) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Philip Wadsworth (53497) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
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 166/10/223
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line