LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Reginald Lance NOTT
Service No: 425736
Born: Gladstone QLD, 11 April 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 April 1942
Unit: No. 138 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Tempsford
Died: Air Operations: (No. 138 Squadron Halifax aircraft DT726), France, 4 November 1943, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Marcols-les-Eaux Communal Cemetery, Ardeche, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James William Milton Nott and Grace Veronica Nott, of Maryborough, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Maryborough QLD
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1920 hours on the night of 3 November 1943 Halifax DT726 took off from Tempsford detailed to carry out a Special Operations Executive (SOE) Operation John 13 and set course for France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at Marcols-les-Eaux and seven crew members were killed and one evaded capture.
The crew members of DT726 were:
Pilot Officer Jacques Barthelemy (159713) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant J F Brough (1481301) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) Evaded capture
Captain J A Estes (USAAF) (Second Pilot)
Flying Officer Henry Fitzgerald Hodges (158788) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Reginald Lance Nott (425736) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Harold Thomas Penfold (R/84289) (RCAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Ronald Edward Pulling (133087) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Harry Smith (522461) (RAF) (Navigator)
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, 166/30/37