LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Arthur LEWIS
Service No: 422590
Born: Cowra NSW, 23 May 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 May 1942
Unit: No. 635 Squadron (RAF), RAF Downham Market, Norfolk
Died: Air Operations: (No. 635 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB958), Germany, 31 March 1945, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Hamburg Cemetery, Hamburg, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Henry and Elizabeth Morgan Lewis, of Cowra, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Cowra NSW
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cowra WWII and Korea Roll of Honour, Cowra NSW
On the 31st March 1945, Lancaster PB958 took off from RAF Downham Market at 0649 hours, detailed to mark the Blohm and Voss shipyards at Hamburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research & Enquiry team later reported: “the aircraft crashed into the garden of a house at Steincamp 23 kms from Hamburg-Billstedt”.
The crew members of PB 958 were:
Flight Sergeant Eric Chenoweth (437046) (Second Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Kevin George Clark (435185) (Navigator) PoW: Executed
Flight Sergeant Colin Delaney (432545) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer John James Kennelly (431320) (Mid Upper Gunner) PoW: Discharged from the RAAF: 25 October 1945
Flying Officer Arthur Lewis (422590) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Neville Edward Peters (433167) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Alex Philip Weir (2218761) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Kennelly later reported: “The aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and set on fire. It was finished off by an ME262. I reported an ME262 on the starboard fine quarter and ordered
corkscrew but go no reply from the Pilot. The controls were shot away, and a few seconds later the Pilot screamed “get out” I was the only one to acknowledge. I saw their bodies on the ground, but they were unable to bale out as their chutes were not pulled.”
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, 166/24/749
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line