LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer James Richard DONALD
Service No: 423676
Born: Arncliffe NSW, 2 October 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1942
Unit: No. 635 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Downham Market
Died: Air Operations: (No. 635 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB228), Germany, 6 January 1945, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Richard Archibald and Edith Myrtle Donald, of Arncliffe, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Arncliffe NSW
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1550 hours on the night of the 6 January 1945, Lancaster PB228 took off from Downham Market detailed to bomb Hanau, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team reported later: “the aircraft crashed 1.5 miles north east of Grossauheim, which is about two miles south east of Hanau. Seven of the crew were killed and one was a Prisoner of War.”
The crew members of PB228 were:
Flying Officer James Richard Donald (423676) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant William Roland Hill (1683935) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Charles Frederick Jelley DFC (161812) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Colin Downie MacKenzie (188715) (RAFVR) (Navigator Plotter)
Flight Lieutenant James Anthony Rowland* DFC (422909) (Pilot) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 4 November 1945
Flight Lieutenant Hereward Robert Sindall (153740) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Renison Whybrow (1595362) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Ivan Thomas Yanovich (39301) (RNZAF) (Visual Air Bomber)
In a POW Report Flight Lieutenant Rowland* stated: “After bombing I was about to turn onto a new course, when almost immediately a vision of a four engine aircraft appeared head on and slightly on the port bow and there was a tremendous crash. On looking round the port wing was observed torn off, likewise the rear half fuselage including the empennage. The collision height was 17,000 feet. I gave the order abandon, but the Inter-com was dead. Likewise the call light did not function and hence there was no acknowledgement. I think the two gunners were killed by the collision and that the others escaped unhurt. The Flight Engineer went forward to the escape hatch followed by the Navigator 1 and Nav 11, Flight Lieutenant Sindall and Pilot Officer Donald I am pretty sure the five left the aircraft. I left through the roof. I did not see the others on the ground. I evaded searches and walked through a forest for Trier, but was captured the next day.”
* Flight Lieutenant Rowland rejoined the RAAF in 1947 and served as the Chief of the Air Staff from 1975 to 1979 and then served as the Governor of New South Wales from 1981 to 1988.
W R Chorley records that No. 10 Squadron Halifax LV909 and No. 431 Squadron Halifax MZ456 collided over Oberscheld on this mission and that both aircraft were lost. It is not clear from the losses summaries which other aircraft may have collided with PB228 but the other aircraft lost at Grossauheim at about the same time was No. 103 Squadron Halifax aircraft MR195 (Flight Lieutenant John Julius Krefter (429582))
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 6 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1945, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1998
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/10/381