LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Albert Frank MATTINGLEY
Service No: 419806
Born: North Fremantle WA, 29 July 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 October 1942(at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 463 Squadron, RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 463 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ME580), Germany, 22 May 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Albert Charles Hubert and Alberta Florence Mattingley, of Palmyra, Western Australia
Roll of Honour: Fremantle WA
Remembered: Panel 109, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Date: 21-22 May 1944
Target: Duisburg
Total Force: Dispatched – 532, Attacking – 488
RAAF Force: No. 460 Dispatched – 21, Attacking – 21; No. 463 Dispatched – 15, Attacking – 13; No. 467 Dispatched – 16, Attacking – 15
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 2,220
Total Aircraft Lost: 29
RAAF Aircraft Lost: No. 460 – 1; No. 463 – 2; No. 467 – 1
Except for a small attack on the Berleit motor vehicle works at Lyon on 1st-2nd May, the RAAF squadrons concentrated on tactical targets until 21st-22nd May, when Ruhr targets were again bombed, partly for the intrinsic value of impeding German production, but with the important corollary of splitting enemy air defences between German industries and the French invasion area. That night Nos. 460, 463 and 467 all attacked Duisburg, causing especially heavy damage in the industrial suburb of Hoschfeld.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Over Europe 1944-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963 – Pages 46, 48
Lancaster ME580 took off from RAF Waddington at 2240 hours on the night of 21/22nd May 1944 to bomb Duisberg, Germany. Bomb load 1 x 4000 lb (pound) (1,800 kg) bomb, 88 x 30 lb (14 kg), 1500 x 4 lb (2 kg) incendiaries. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Fifteen aircraft from the Squadron took part in the raid and two of these including ME580 failed to return. Post war it was established that the aircraft crashed in a field between Horst and Randerath presumably as a result of enemy action. Randerath is some 7kms north north east of Geilenkirchen, and 28 kms north of Aachen, Germany.
The crew members of ME580 were:
Flying Officer Kenneth Edgar Archay (426941) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant James Ernest Jasper (426604) (Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer Albert Frank Mattingley (419806) (Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer Albert Francis Mayne (408913) (Navigator)
Sergeant Frank Norman Rice (1607123) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Edward Hugh Ross (429351) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Lionel Warwick Weeden (417916) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
No. 460 Squadron lost Lancaster LL951 (Pilot Officer Reginald Eugene McDougall (J/35148) (RCAF) (Pilot)) on 22 May 1944.
No. 463 Squadron lost Lancaster ME571 (Pilot Officer Murray Edmund Pratten (416994) (Pilot)) on 22 May 1944.
No. 467 Squadron lost Lancaster ED657 (Flying Officer Robert Maxwell Harris (401690) (Pilot)) on 22 May 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, 166/27/436