LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Robert Haynes MacDONALD
Service No: 406458
Born: Calcutta, India, 17 February 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 December 1940 (at Perth WA)
Unit: No. 156 Squadron (RAF), RAF Warboys, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations: Long Distance Raids (No. 156 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB223), Germany, 23 November 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James and Gladys MacDonald, of Mount Lawley, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Lancaster JB223 of 156 Squadron took off from RAF Station Warboys at 1736 hours on the night of 23/24th November 1943 to attack Berlin. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft take off and it did not return to base. Following post war investigations, it was established in 1948 that the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire, exploded in the air and crashed at Konradshore, approximately 8 miles north west of Berlin. The nature of the explosion was such that wreckage was scattered over a wide area, a large portion from the front of the fuselage falling into Havel Lake.
The crew members of JB223 were:
Pilot Officer William Anderson (156592) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant Charles Vincent Harvey DFC (105183) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Francis Peter King (1246101) (RAFVR) (‘Y’ (Radar) Operator)
Flying Officer Robert Haynes MacDonald (406458) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Ernest Raymond Mitchell DFM (142506) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Pilot Officer Maxwell Morley Patrick DFC (412028) (Bomb Aimer)
Pilot Officer Walter Henry Rose DFC (405605) (Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant Herbert William Joseph Stewart DFC (J/15536) (RCAF) (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, 166/26/300