LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Donald Campbell DRIPPS
Service No: 409392
Born: Horsham VIC, 27 August 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 550 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Grimsby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 550 Squadron Lancaster aircraft DV343), North West Europe, 24 December 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Campbell Dripps and Amy Dripps; husband of Beryl Violet Canberra Dripps, of East Coburg, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Coburg VIC
Remembered: Panel 191, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2345 hours on 23 December 1943 Lancaster DV343took off from Grimsby for operations against Berlin, but nothing further was seen or heard from it after take off. The aircraft did not return to base and was lost without trace. It was reported that fighter and flak opposition was moderate.
The crew members of DV343 were:
Sergeant Daniel Campbell (1370062) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Donald Campbell Dripps (409392) (Pilot)
Sergeant Raymond Gillies (1585244) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Geoffrey Charles Orme (147981) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant James Clark Scott (578312) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Walter Thomas Sibley (1579481) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer John Edgar Stewart (J/14573) (RCAF) (Navigator)
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, 166/10/159