LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Keith MacDiarmid FINNEY
Service No: 422942
Born: Rockdale NSW, 17 May 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 June 1942
Unit: No. 467 Squadron, RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 467 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ME853), France, 2 August 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Boran-Sur-Oise Communal Cemetery, Oise, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Edwin and Margaret Winnifred Finney, of Rockdale, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Rockdale NSW
Remembered: Panel 110, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Though the circumstances of this particular raid on 2 August 1944 are not included in the Volume IV of the RAAF Official History, the background and strategic context of the battle against German long range missiles during August 1944 may be found at pages 180-184 in Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Over Europe 1944-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963
Lancaster ME853 took off from RAF Waddington at 1447 hours on 2 August 1944 in a daylight raid on flying bomb facilities at Bois de Cassan, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Seventeen aircraft from the Squadron took part in the raid and two of these including ME853 failed to return. AWM 64 (1/427) records that “according to reports the two aircraft that failed to return from the above mission (ME 853 and ND 346) collided and went straight down.” It was later established that the two aircraft crashed at Boran-Sur-Oise 9 kms west south west of Chantilly, France.
The crew members of ME853 were:
Flying Officer Alick Ronald Bradley (423050) (Pilot)
Sergeant Alexander Harold Dawkins (1300770) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer James Roderick Delahunty (419458) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Wilfred George Barrett Dial (427615) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Keith MacDiarmid Finney (422942) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Garnet Keith Scheadel (437213) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Wilkins (858830) (RAF (Auxiliary Air Force)) (Flight Engineer)
No. 467 Squadron lost Lancaster ND346 (Flying Officer Arthur Richard Dyer (420648) (Pilot)) on 2 August 1944.
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, 166/13/278