6 Group Unavailable
467 Australian Squadron. Lancaster Mk I LL846 took off from RAF Waddington on 28 July 1944 on a mission to Stuttgart, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off. Subsequent reports indicated LL846 crashed at sea 5 miles off Le Havre, France, after being hit by flak.
From RAAF:
The crew members of LL846 were:
- Flying Officer Arthur Henry Birch (171883) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) PoW
- Flying Officer Samuel Johns (425021) (Pilot) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 26 November 1946
- Flying Officer C E Langstone (J/27488) (RCAF) (Navigator) PoW
- Flight Sergeant Bruce Peter Molloy (419472) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 7 February 1946
- Flight Sergeant Matthew John O'Leary (426379) (Bomb Aimer) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 14 September 1945
- Sergeant Desmond Kenneth James Phillips (1866742) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
- Sergeant Bryan Robert John Pring (1853987) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) PoW
It was later established that the aircraft ditched and that Sergeant Phillips sustained severe head injuries and was unable to get into the dinghy despite valiant efforts by Flying Officer Johns to get his colleague on board. By morning the Flight Engineer could no longer be seen and he is presumed to have drowned. The other six members of the crew became PoWs.
In a later report by the then Warrant Officer O'Leary he stated "was being marched westwards by the Germans ahead of advancing Russian troops. With two other RAAF companions they fell out in a village pleading exhaustion and waited there fourteen days for the advancing Russians. They were then marched back 45 miles to a reception centre and later taken by motor lorry and train to Poland, and subsequently Odessa."
In his report Warrant Officer Molloy stated "The aircraft was hit by flak about 6000 feet at Le Havre as we were first heading for UK. Flames were coming from the port wing which would have broken off but for the Skippers presence of mind who immediately put the aircraft down and made a perfect ditching 5 miles off Le Havre. All got out but the Engineer was badly smashed up during the ditching and disappeared from us and was not seen again. Six of us spent three days in the dinghy. I was a POW all the time until released by the Russians from German POW Camp."
Sergeant Phillips who was listed as missing is commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing at Runnymede, Surrey, UK.
