LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Paul Alfred STUART
Service No: 418309
Born: Mosman NSW, 3 February 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 May 1942 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 115 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Witchford
Died: Air Operations: (No. 115 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PD276), Germany, 25 October 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leslie Kemnitz Stuart and Daphne May Stuart, of West Pymble, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1323 hours on 25 October 1944 Lancaster PD276 took off from Witchford detailed to bomb Essen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Investigation team later reported “The aircraft crashed in a field near a convent called Haus Schur, and the wreckage was not discovered by the nuns until the next morning.” All the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of PD276 were:
Flight Sergeant Eric Eyles Birch (429445) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Edwin Kay Lovell Langton (426462) (Navigator)
Sergeant John Frederick Mason (1881521) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant David Christie Spiden (950495) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Paul Alfred Stuart (418309) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Jack Edward Templeman (1811207) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Victor Henry Wilson (J/37882) (RCAF) (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, 166/38/748