LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Lesley Herbert Ephraim FAIRHEAD
Service No: 436696
Born: Beverly WA, 5 May 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 March 1943
Unit: No. 227 Squadron (RAF), RAF Balderton, Nottinghamshire
Died: Air Operations: Resumption of the Strategic Bombing (No. 227 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB672), France, 4 December 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Choloy War Cemetery, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leslie Henry and Ida Fairhead, of Donnybrook, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Pingelly WA
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Remembered: Honour Board, Postmaster General’s Department, GPO Forrest Chase, Perth WA
Lancaster PB672 took off from RAF Balderton at 1640 hours on the night of 4 December 1944, detailed to bomb Heilbronn, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed on 4th December 1944 at Grandfontaine (Bas-Rhin), 6 kms west north west of Schirmeck, and all the crew were killed.
The crew members of PB672 were:
Flying Officer Eric Ivor Britton (144279) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Ronald James Dunstan (145908) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Lesley Herbert Ephraim Fairhead (436696) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Rudolph Carle Hase (R/196364) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Ernest William Matthews (2221540) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Herbert Ronald Thomas (1895708) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Blair Wood (1826216) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
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, 166/13/362