LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Leslie John POWELL DFC
Service No: 406873
Born: Fremantle WA, 9 December 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 April 1941
Unit: No. 156 Squadron (RAF), RAF Warboys, Cambridgeshire
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), 14 May 1943 (Citation Title: No. 12 Squadron RAF)
Died: Air Operations (No. 156 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB216), North West Europe, 16 December 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Henry James Powell, and of Jean McFarlane Powell, of South Perth, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 187, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
DFC Citation: Pilot Officer Powell of No 12 Squadron has participated in successful sorties against targets at Essen, Wilhelmshaven, Hamburg, Milan and Berlin, and has at all times displayed great devotion to duty and set an example worthy of attainment.
Lancaster JB216 of 156 Squadron took off from RAF Station Warboys at 1628 hours on 16 December 1943, to carry out a bombing attack on Berlin. At 1845 hours a fix was obtained of the aircraft over North Sea in position 52.22N 002.48E approximately 200 miles from base. No further message received from the aircraft which did not return to base. The aircraft and crew were lost without trace.
The crew members of JB216 were:
Flight Lieutenant Charles Oscar Aubert DFM (403490) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant William Starkey Fisher (1098374) (RAFVR)
Squadron Leader Ronald Hadley DFC (102608) (RAFVR)
Flight Lieutenant Norman Thomas Riggall Poulton DFM (400820) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Lieutenant Leslie John Powell DFC (406873) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant John Frederick Samuel DFC (400999) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Robert Sidney Smith DFC (403766) (Wireless Operator)
Flight Lieutenant Theodore Trilsbeck DFC (J/10163) (RCAF)
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, 166/33/116