LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Kenneth Charles DYER
Service No: 422462
Born: North Strathfield NSW, 10 December 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 May 1942
Unit: No. 7 Squadron (RAF), RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 7 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND557), Germany, 15 March 1944, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Henry and Ada Dyer; husband of Doreen Yvonne Dyer, of Epping, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Epping War Memorial Plaques, Epping NSW
Remembered: Epping War Memorial, Epping NSW
Lancaster ND557 took off from RAF Oakington at 1939 hours on the night of 15/16th March 1944 to bomb Stuttgart, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Captured German documents indicated that the aircraft crashed at 2300 hours on 15 March
1944 at Tannheim near Donaueshingen, Germany, and the aircraft exploded on impact killing all the crew members.
The crew members of ND557 were:
Pilot Officer Douglas Alfred Carter (410145) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Kenneth Charles Dyer (422462) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Peter Hanson Hamby (170729) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant George Alfred Johnston (418535) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Ian Hay Nicholson (J/21172) (RCAF) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Hoskin Peter Riddle (1587493) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Reginald George Ryder (1238672) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Roy Stanley Smith (417527) (Rear Gunner)
The RAF and RCAF members of the crew were from of No. 218 Squadron (RAF).
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/10/196
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line