LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Frank O’DWYER
Service No: 410716
Born: Northcote VIC, 31 March 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 January 1942
Unit: No. 78 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Breighton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 78 Squadron Halifax aircraft LW229), Germany, 6 September 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas and Letitia O’Dwyer, of Clifton Hill, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Collingwood VIC
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1948 hours on the night of 5 September 1943 Halifax LW229 took off from Breighton detailed to bomb Mannheim, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. LW229 was shot down by a night-fighter and crashed in the general vicinity of Mannheim. Four crew members were killed and three were taken prisoner. LW229 was one of four aircraft from the squadron that failed to return from the mission.
Flying Officer A C Beales (133732) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Sergeant R A Davies (1166238) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flight Lieutenant Alan Egerton Ferguson (139598) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Alfred Reginald Fleming (1576515) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer H C S Hamley (139841) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber) PoW
Pilot Officer Frank O’Dwyer (410716) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Jack Richdale Trace (R/157548) (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, 166/31/102