LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Keith Cumming McPHIE DFC
Service No: 414267
Born: Roma QLD, 26 November 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 August 1941
Unit: No. 57 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station East Kirkby
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), 1 June 1945
Died: Air Operations: (No. 57 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB311), Germany, 29 January 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Gentle McPhie and Mary Jessie McPhie, of Roma, Queensland, Australia; husband of Helen McPhie
Roll of Honour: Roma QLD
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
DFC Citation: Pilot Officer McPhie has taken part in many successfully attacks against strongly defended targets in Germany. On one occasion during an operation over Berlin, his aircraft was attacked by an enemy fighter and, in the ensuing engagement, this officer’s skilful airmanship was responsible for bringing his own aircraft through unscathed. At all times he has set a fine example of efficiency, courage and determination. (London Gazette 1 June 1945 Page 2793)
At 2342 hours on the night of 28 January 1944 Lancaster JB311 took off from East Kirkby detailed to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft crashed at the village of Glawe near a lake called the Krakower See, about 20 miles east of Parchim. All the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of JB311 were:
Pilot Officer Walter Harold Andrews (J/86120) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Sidney Hubert Davis (171203) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer John Ferguson MacMillan DFC (409166) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer Keith Cumming McPhie DFC (414267) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Kenneth Moreton DFC (405465) (Navigator)
Sergeant Frederick Sydney Gordon Reeves (1234696) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant William Roy Weston (1231220) (RAFVR) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/26/356