LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Reginald Thomas McCUDDEN
Service No: 422033
Born: Wellington NSW, 28 May 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 April 1942
Unit: No. 57 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station East Kirkby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 57 Squadron Lancaster aircraft DV201), Germany, 23 September 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Joseph and Margaret Burgess McCudden, of Griffith, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Griffith NSW
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Griffith Cenotaph, Griffith NSW
At 1909 hours on the night of 23September 1943 Lancaster DV201 took off from East Kirkby detailed to bomb Mannheim, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft crashed near Eppenbrum at approximately 2330 hours presumably as a result of enemy action. Six of the crew members were killed and one was taken prisoner.
The crew members of DV201 were:
Flight Sergeant Frank John Austen (133889) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Frederick William Cornwell (1338129) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Thomas Joseph Hall (1585136) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Ronald Howarth (1080129) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Reginald Thomas McCudden (422033) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant J V O’Dwyer (1578660) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber) PoW
Flight Sergeant George Wilson Speicher (R/144263) (RCAF) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/26/257
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line