CRYER, Alan
| Service Numbers: | 436545, WX32207 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 August 1942, 2 Platoon 24 Coy AASC 13 AIF Brigade. Local Roll of Honour- Subiaco |
| Last Rank: | Flight Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | No. 12 Squadron (RAF) |
| Born: | Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia , 26 March 1923 |
| Home Town: | Cottesloe, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Perth Boys School, Western Australia (1935-38) |
| Occupation: | Shipping Clerk |
| Died: | Flying Battle, East Stockwith Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, 4 March 1945, aged 21 years |
| Cemetery: |
Cambridge City Cemetery, United Kingdom Grave 15107. Personal Inscription - TO LIVE IN THE HEARTS OF THOSE WE LOVE IS NOT TO DIE |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, International Bomber Command Centre Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Flight Sergeant, 436545 | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Aug 1942: | Enlisted Private, WX32207, 13th (WA) Battalion Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC), 2 Platoon 24 Coy AASC 13 AIF Brigade. Local Roll of Honour- Subiaco | |
| 4 Aug 1942: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX32207 | |
| 5 Feb 1943: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Aircraftman 2 (WW2), 436545, No. 4 Initial Training School Victor Harbor | |
| 5 Feb 1943: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Sergeant, 436545, No. 12 Squadron (RAAF) | |
| 28 Feb 1945: | Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Sergeant, 436545, No. 12 Squadron (RAF), Air War NW Europe 1939-45 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
Son of Walter and Lily Ellen Cryer, of Ipswich, Queensland
TO LIVE IN THE HEARTS OF THOSE WE LOVE IS NOT TO DIE
Lancaster bomber ME 323, Code named PH-P, of 12 Squadron was shot down by intruder between East Stockwith and Blyton during a night training flight. The crew of 7, 5 of whom were Australian Flight Sergeants were killed.
A relatively new memorial on the village green in East Stockwith incorporates a propeller blade from the actual aircraft and remembers a 12 Sqn crew lost on 03-04/03/45.
The Lancaster had departed Wickenby for a routine night training flight.
It was intercepted near Hull by a Luftwaffe Intruder captained by Lt Gunther Wolf (IX/NJG5) and shot down for his 4th Abschusse at 0108.
The aircraft crashed between the villages of East Stockwith and Blyton at 01:10.
This loss was one of the many victims of the Luftwaffe's infamous but ill fated Unternehman Gisela (Operation Gisela) when large numbers of enemy aircraft on "Intruder Ops" infiltrated the bomber stream returning to the UK from Ops Kamen. They wrought havoc shooting down multiple aircraft across the length of the East Coast of England but sustained significant losses themselves in what was regarded as the Lutfwaffe's "last ditch action" at this stage of WWII
Click images to start slideshow.