LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Brian Herbert EVANS MID
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 42745 (RAF)
Born: Date, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 49 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Scampton
Died: Prisoner of War (Executed): (PoW from the loss of No. 49 Squadron Hampden aircraft P4404 on 7 December 1940), Germany, 31 March 1944, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Poznan Old Garrison Cemetery, Poland
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Herbert and Dorothy May Evans, of Manly, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
On 24/25 March 1944, 76 allied prisoners of war broke out of the Stalag Luft III Prison Camp near Sagan, Germany (now Zagan, Poland) (the Great Escape). All but three were recaptured and of those, 50 including six Australians were executed by the Gestapo. Those six Australians executed were:
Squadron Leader James Catanach DFC MID (400364) (No. 455 Squadron (RAAF)) Executed 29 March 1944
Flight Lieutenant Brian Herbert Evans MID (42745) (RAF) (No. 49 Squadron (RAF)) Executed 31 March 1944
Warrant Officer Albert Horace Hake MID (403218) (No. 72 Squadron (RAF)) Executed 31 March 1944
Flight Lieutenant Thomas Barker Leigh (46462) (RAF) (No. 76 Squadron (RAF)) Executed 31 March 1944
Flight Lieutenant Reginald Victor Kierath MID (402364) (No. 450 Squadron) Executed 29 March 1944
Squadron Leader John Edwin Ashley Williams DFC (40652) (RAF) (No. 450 Squadron (RAAF)) Executed 29 March 1944
On 6 December 1940, No, 49 Squadron Hampden P4404 took off from Scampton to attack airfields in northern France and was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed. The crew members of P4404 were:
Pilot Officer Brian Herbert Evans (42745) (RAF) (Second Pilot) PoW, Executed: 31 March 1944
Sergeant William Kieran O’Leary (649491) (RAFVR) PoW
Sergeant John Cecil Shaw MID (724749) (RAFVR) (Pilot) PoW, Died: 4 January 1942
Sergeant D Young (745910) (RAFVR) PoW
References:
Chorley W R Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 1 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1939-1940, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1992
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records