LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant George Neville DOWNING
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 1027411 (RAFVR)
Born: Date, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 196 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Leconfield
Died: Air Operations: (No. 196 Squadron Wellington X aircraft HE980), Belgium, 4 July 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Heverlee War Cemetery, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Downing, and of Jennie Downing, of Ramsgate, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
At 2249 hours on 3 July 1943, Wellington HE980 took off from Leconfield to attack Cologne. The aircraft crashed at Averbock (Brabant), 6 km north west of Diest, Belgium and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of HE980 were:
Sergeant George Neville Downing (1027411) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Paul Gee (1332441) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Albert James Horne (1586200) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Ronald Sydney Naile (1316536) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Allan Henry Taylor (1431243) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
References:
Chorley, W.R. Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War Volume 4 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1943, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1996
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records