LEST WE FORGET
Wing Commander George Harcus SHEEHAN MID
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 37587 (RAF)
Born: Broken Hill NSW, 1913
Enlisted in the RAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 61 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Syerston
Awarded the mentioned in Despatches (MID)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 61 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5662), Germany, 25 August 1942, Age unavailable
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: No additional information
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Wing Commander Sheehan was an Australian Cadet trained for the Royal Air Force and embarked for the UK on 10 January 1936.
At 2120 hours on 24 August 1942, Lancaster R5662 took off from Syerston to attack Frankfurt, Germany. The aircraft crashed at Efferen, 6 km south-west of Koln and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of R5662 were:
Flight Sergeant Joseph McKay Atkinson (R/66686) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Anthony Frederick Phillip Cursett-Sutherland (923436) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Benjamin John Davis (928365) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Harold Ekin (627523) (RAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant John McCleary (1126145) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Noel Roy Meyer (405303) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Wing Commander George Harcus Sheehan (37587) (RAF) (Second Pilot)
References:
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 3 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1942, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1994
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Newton, Dennis A Few of the Few: Australians and the Battle of Britain, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT 2600, 1990
Newton, Dennis First Impact, Banner Books, Maryborough QLD 4650, 1997
NSW Register of Births On Line