LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Alan Frank NEALE
Service No: 401528
Born: Upper Hawthorn VIC, 30 July 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 February 1941
Unit: No. 12 Squadron (RAF), RAF Wickenby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 12 Squadron Lancaster aircraft I W4372), North West Europe, 18 January 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frank and Mabel Neale; husband of Joan May Neale, of Wolstanton, Stoke-on-Trent.
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 193, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster W4372 of 12 Squadron RAF took off at 1634 hours on 17 January 1943 from RAF Station Wickenby to bomb Berlin. No further news of the aircraft or crew was received.
The crew members of W4372 were:
Pilot Officer Wilfred Gordon Burrows (411739) (Navigator)
Sergeant James Stewart Hunter (1018437) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Andrew Mitchell (1003659) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Robert Bruce Mullinger (411595) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Alan Frank Neale (401528) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Leslie Henry Richardson (1216870) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Eric Bayly Withell (414713) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
The body of Sergeant Mitchell was washed ashore at Nymindegab, on the south west coast of Denmark, and is buried at Esbjerg, Denmark.
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, 166/29/2