LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Robin Henry LOPEZ
Service No: 421603
Born: Forest Lodge NSW, 27 July 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 February 1942
Unit: No. 97 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Coningsby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 97 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PA974), off the Norfolk Coast, 24 September 1944, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Henry and Millie May Lopez, of Sydney, New South Wales; husband of Frances Alison Lopez, of Coogee, New South Wales Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Flying Officer James Albert Lopez (402448)
On the night of 23 September 1944 Lancaster PA974 took off from Coningsby to bomb Ladbergen, Germany. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return from base. The aircraft crashed into the sea off Norfolk and all the crew members were killed. Their bodies were recovered.
The crew members of PA974 were:
Sergeant Frank Buchan (1572193) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Kenneth Frost (423784) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Clyde Joseph Girling (410466) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flying Officer Robin Henry Lopez (421603) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Ian Hector MacLean (J/26546) (RCAF)
Warrant Officer Granville Sidney Sharpe DFM (1377744) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant James Strowger (1806766) (RAFVR)
Flying Officer Wallace Walker (J/28784) (RCAF) (Air 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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/25/203