LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Eric Hurlstone RENFREE
Service No: 401462
Born: Armadale VIC, 24 July 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 February 1941
Unit: No. 83 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Wyton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 83 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5623), Germany, 25 August 1942, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred Hurlstone Renfree and Ellen Leslie Renfree, of East Malvern, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Dandenong VIC
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2112 hours on the night of 24 August 1942, Lancaster R5623 took off from Wyton detailed to bomb Frankfurt, 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 Kalbach,
approximately 5 miles north west of Frankfurt.” All the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of R5623 were:
Flight Sergeant Clifford Howard John Byrd (R/129019) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Warrant Officer II Lloyd Truman Goodfellow (R/75207) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Derek Leslie Howe (1311798) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant John Joseph Mathieson (570019) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Eric Hurlstone Renfree (401462) (Navigator)
Sergeant Ernest Webster (1053681) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Harry Young (1109002) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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, 163/54/61