LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Winston Leslie LEIBHARDT
Service No: 419658
Born: Geelong VIC, 23 December 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 September 1942
Unit: No. 218 Squadron (RAF), RAF Methwold, Norfolk
Died: Air Operations: (No. 218 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PD262), Germany, 12 September 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Fredrick Leslie and Ruby Mary Leibhardt, of Geelong West, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Geelong VIC
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster PD262 took off from RAF Methwold at 1835 hours on the night of 12/13th September 1944, detailed to bomb Frankfurt, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at 2330 hours on 12th September 1944 in side a triangle made up of the villages of Flomborn to the west, Eppelsheim on the north and Gundersheim to the east, all bring some 15 kms north west of Worms and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of PD262 were:
Pilot Officer Clarence Alwin Black (415608) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer Donald Wallace Clarke (J/86873) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Henry Clarke (184538) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flying Officer Winston Leslie Leibhardt (419658) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant William Henry Thomas Pettman (1803071) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant Howard Thomas Seller (179729) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Graham Olaf Barratt Sinclair (136838) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Charles Spiers (1581963) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper 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, 166/24/539