LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Joseph William POWELL
Service No: 418323
Born: Clifton Hill VIC, 5 May 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 May 1942
Unit: No. 166 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Kirmington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 166 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PD224), Germany, 14 October 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Percival and Eleanor Florence Powell, of Richmond, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Richmond VIC
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0630 hours on the 14 October 1944 Lancaster PD224 took off from Kirmington detailed to bomb Duisberg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team later reported “The aircraft crashed at Orsay, Milchplatz, on the morning of 14 October 1944, and all the crew members were killed.”
The crew members of PD224 were:
Sergeant William George Angles (1893084) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Sidney Sutherland Harper (1594534) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Edward Roger Lambert (J/35772) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer Andrew McNeill (J/25785) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Joseph William Powell (418323) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Bryn Evans Roberts (J/36862) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Leonard Schaff (R/213524) (RCAF) (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, 166/33/231