Francis Herbert Doncaster

Lancaster ED539 took off RAF Waddington 17.40 to bomb Berlin. Hit by Flak of 1. Flak-Division in the target area with the loss of all crew.

Post-war, it was established that the aircraft had crashed at 04.00 into the garden of 239 Wendenschloss Strasse in the Berlin suburb of Kopenwick. A witness to the events, Paul Schulz, a local shoe maker, described how the aircraft crashed onto a house, and exploded. A ferocious fire followed the crash, possibly as a result of incendiary bombs still being aboard. Schulz described how the body of one of the crew was found some distance away from the crash, in the garden of Herr Gohl, after having been thrown from the wreck. Two other bodies, badly damaged and burned, were also recovered, along with a leg that still had a flying boot attached to it. Two of these bodies were later found to be that of F/O Sudds and Sgt. Coombe, and these were originally buried in the Elsgrund Cemetery on the outskirts of Berlin.

Investigations after the war ended indicate that one of the other bodies recovered was known to be wearing an Austin & Reed Officers shirt, and as such, could only be that of F/O O’Brien. However, his grave is marked as Unknown in the Berlin Cemetery and his name is recorded on the Runnymede memorial. No other crew remains found and they are all recorded at Runnymede.

Also killed ;
P/O Cecil O’Brien RAAF
Sgt Douglas Coombe
Sgt Harold Boardley
F/O Gerald Sudds
F/S William Simpson RAAF
Sgt Joseph Melling

Unknown