Durston

THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING LANCASTER

On the night of 28/29 January 1944, a crew of young lads took off from Waddington in the Midlands of England to attack the King of Targets, Berlin. F/L I.G.Durston (RAAF) was the pilot and his crew were comprised of Sgt. Aver.F.A (RAF) Flight Engineer, F/L Fry H.L. (RAF) Navigator, F/S Griffiths S.J. (RAF) Bomb Aimer, F/S Ludlow R.L.(RAAF) Wireless Operator, F/S Gill P.E. (RAAF) Mid Upper Gunner, F/S Sutherland J.W.A. (RAAF) Tail Gunner.

The aircraft never returned. Another loss, another mystery. These lads remained in their unmarked grave until the amazing discovery 57 years later.

View the crew missions and records.

The crew picture.

57 years later the aircraft, a Lancaster from 467 Squadron Waddington ED867 PO-T or PO-L (the records are unclear) was found by Thomas Piestsch, Rudeger Kaddatz, and Mario Schulze, members of the air war history society in Oranienburg, Germany.

M. Schulze wrote to John Burgess on the 20 March 2001, the President of the RAAF Association Queensland, Australia to alert them of the find. In recognising the squadron, John Burgess contacted Max Johnson, President of 467 Squadron Association (view Max Johnson's Records) and then M. Johnson contacted Mario Schulze to inform him that on the forth coming trip to Germany, Max and Shirley Johnson would be staying in Berlin from the 12/05/2001 to 14/05/2001 and would look forward to meeting with this group.

At this meeting, M. Johnson found that three of the deceased young lads had been found soon after the crash and buried in the local area as Unknown Airmen. One of the crew (F/S Griffiths S.J. (RAF)) was identified after the war, and has now been re-interred at the City War Cemetery, Berlin. They rest at Block 5 Row J1. Since the discovery of the Lancaster, the remaining bodies were interred in temporary graves awaiting official identification. Only one has been identified to date and that is F/L I.G. (Joe) Durston.

M. Johnson contacted the Defence Attaché in Berlin who drove, with his assistant, to Oranienburg to meet with the search group and start the identification procedure. The Attaché, Cpt. G. Mackinnell and his assistant viewed some of the remains of the Australian crews. The crew members will soon be identified by forensic experts from Australia so they can be given a marked grave and buried with full military honours. The defence experts from Canberra plan to go to the site to examine the remains in October 2001.

REPORTED IN THE SYDNEY SUN-HERALD AUGUST 5 2001 BY F. WALKER AND D. DASEY

In the winter of 1944, a Lancaster bomber with 4 RAAF and 3 RAF crew took off on their mission to bomb Nazi Germany. It never came back. What happened to the aircraft, ED867 PO-T, PO-L (the records are unclear at this time as to the correct designation of the Lancaster).

The Sun-Herald reports that the Germans have found the wreckage near Oranienburg, about 30KM north of Berlin. A dedicated team of historians have dug down for three metres and discovered the remains of crewmen inside the wreck. This mission was apparently meant to be their last mission, 27 trips including this one and apparently the crew had been told they had completed their number of op's and this was their last. They had made a pact to finish it together. The Berlin raids were always tough ones because the capital was very heavily defended and this was to be even tougher for Joe Durston and his crew. They were the photographic aircraft which meant they would over fly the target after the raid and take the photos that were needed by British Intelligence. Back in Australia, Joe Durston's sister, Betty James, was told that he was missing in action. Betty James, now 83, is reported as saying that after nearly sixty years of wondering, this find has at last brought peace to herself and family. "Now we are at peace because he is going to be officially buried". She also said "Her brother was the steadying influence on the crew because he was considered to be the old man". In wartime flying Lancasters 32 is very old.

Also reported in The Sun-Herald are some comments by Ross Stanford, 83, a fellow pilot in A-flight 467 Squadron. (view R.Stanford's Records) "It grips you a bit after all this time, particularly when you knew that bloke and used to see him every day for six months. Joe (Durston's nick name) was a quiet steady man, he was a regular guy".

THE FINALIZATION OF THE STORY.

Dear Mr. Johnson,

my name is Mario Schulze from the Association "AG Fliegerschicksale Oranienburg". I am one of the two men who met your father, Max Johnson, in May 2001 at Berlin in the matter of the Durston-crew.

I would like inform the 467th Association about the progress in ED867 activities.
In July 2001 we had a very interesting meeting with the Australian Defense-Attaché, Navy Captain Graham MacKinnel, and his Secretary in Oranienburg after he had received the medical documents of the four members of the missing ED867 crew - Durston, Ludlow, Gill and Sutherland. Before we had forwarded the remains of the crew to the German War Grave Commission, we had made an analysis of all parts of teeth’s which were found. I think we had shown this also to your father at Berlin. On hand of this analysis and the medical documents of the four Australians we were able to identify two of them by nearly 100%.
Now it has been nearly two years by the Australian, British and German authorities who have decided what will happen now. With the very strong intervention by the Australian authorities, and with the help of a forensic specialist of the German army at Fürstenfeldbruck who had confirmed the identification of the two crewmembers, and lots of e-mails and meetings with N/Cpt. MacKinnel, at one of them was W/Cdr. Lyndon Dixon from the Australian MOD present, this file will be closed on July 15th 2003.
At the end of last year the headstone at the Berlin War Cemetery of the burial in June 2000, with the inscription "THREE UNKNOWN AIRMEN" was removed. On July 15th 2003 the missing six airmen of the Durston-crew will be receiving their personal headstones. They are not listened as MIA anymore. On the same day at the crash-site in Oranienburg will be uncovered a memorial stone for this crew. We have the information that the sisters of "Joe" Durston and Robert Ludlow and the son of Jack Sutherland and some family members from Great Britain will be present for these ceremonies.

Sincerely

Mario Schulze
AG Fliegerschicksale Oranienburg

'Missing' Lancaster crew buried in Berlin.		Reference The information in this frame is from http://www.raf.mod.uk/ptc/lanced867.html Thursday, July 17, 2003 1:20 PM
The airmen who flew on the last mission of Lancaster ED 867 have finally been laid to rest in Berlin, almost sixty years after being shot down while on a bombing mission over Germany. A memorial service and burial were held for the crew, missing since 29th January 1944. The unveiling of the memorial, which included the dedication of a plaque by Australia's Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Angus Houston, took place at the crash site just outside the village of Schmachtenberg, near Oranienburg, 40 kilometres north of Berlin. Family members of five of the crew attended the memorial ceremony. Also present were senior officers from the German military along with members of the German aviation research group that originally located the aircraft in 1997. Amid emotional scenes, Air Commodore Peter O'Keefe RAAF gave the blessing as each of the families laid their own floral tributes at the foot of the memorial, located on what is now a German military training area. The ceremony was followed by a special lunch at a nearby hotel. The group then travelled under police escort to the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery for the funeral. Members of the Queen's Colour Squadron of the Royal Air Force ( www.queenscolour.org.uk ), and personnel from the Royal Australian Air Force, lead the funeral procession. Chief Technician Paul Wilson from the RAF College Band based at RAF Cranwell, sounded 'The Last Post'. As the floral tributes were laid at the grave, piper Daniel Bros played a lament. Lancaster ED 867 took off from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire on 29th January 1944 to carry out a bombing raid over Berlin. The aircraft was shot down and the crew - four Australians and three British - were all killed. Pilot Officer Sidney John Griffiths, from Cardiff, was found shortly after and buried in a local cemetery. His remains were later moved to the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery. The whereabouts of the remaining crew - Flight Lieutenant Ivan George Durston DFC (RAAF), Flight Lieutenant Harold Leonard Fry (RAF), Sergeant Francis Alfred Aver (RAF), Pilot Officer Robert Lanoel Ludlow (RAAF), Flight Sergeant Phillip Roy Gill (RAAF) and Flight Sergeant Jack William Alexander Sutherland (RAAF) - have been a mystery ever since. Now, in a fitting tribute to their bravery, they have finally been laid to rest near the grave of Pilot Officer Griffiths. Group Captain Nigel Vaughan-Smith, who represented the Chief of the Air Staff, said: "Excellent organisation by the RAF, the Royal Australian Air Force and the German Armed Forces ensured that the proceedings went extremely well. "The setting of the Berlin War Cemetery in fine afternoon sunshine, added to the full poignancy of the moment, allowed the families of the crew to say their final farewells after 59 years. Gp Capt Vaughan-Smith, based at Kalkar Reaction Forces Air HQ in Germany, added: "To be here as a representative of the Chief of the Air Staff is a proud and moving moment. I also feel honoured to have been given the opportunity to say on behalf of the RAF a farewell to these brave and valiant comrades who sacrificed their lives so many years ago." Former RAF navigator Gerald Griffiths, brother of Pilot Officer Sid Griffiths, explained his feelings: "We owe a great deal to young men like Sid who risked their lives every night." Gerald, who read a poem for his brother at the funeral, added: "Sid would have been proud to have his comrades laid to rest near him and that is where they now are.” The funeral service, taken by Air Commodore Peter O’Keefe RAAF, and local Methodist minister, Romesh Mogadil, was conducted with full military honours.		Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Angus Houston unveiled the memorial to the crew of Lancaster ED 867, which stands at the crash site near Oranienburg, north of Berlin. The memorial for the crew of Lancaster ED 867. Betty James, sister of Flt Lt Ivan Durston DFC, with son Gregory Bickford, at the memorial for the crew of Lancaster ED 867.


Airmen from Britain and Australia guard the coffin of six members of the crew of Lancaster ED 867, buried in Berlin War Cemetery, 15th July 03. The flags of both countries lie on top of the coffin.	Air Cdre Peter O'Keefe RAAF, far left, lead the funeral procession for the crew of Lancaster ED 867. The bearer party includes airmen from the Royal Australian Air Force.	The honour guard to the bearer party carried the rank badges, brevets, medals and insignia from the RAF and RAAF that the members of the crew of Lancaster ED 867 were entitled to wear.

Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Angus Houston addresses the relatives at the funeral service for the crew of Lancaster ED 867.	Flight Lieutenant Ivan George Durston DFC (RAAF) Pilot (32) Flight Lieutenant Harold Leonard Fry (RAF) Navigator (21) Sergeant Francis Alfred Aver (RAF) Flight Engineer (23) Pilot Officer Sidney John Griffiths (RAF) Bomb Aimer (22) Pilot Officer Robert Lanoel Ludlow (RAAF) Wireless Operator (31) Flight Sergeant Phillip Roy Gill (RAAF) Upper Gunner (20) Flight Sergeant Jack William Alexander Sutherland (RAAF) Rear Gunner (22)	Gerry Griffiths from Bridgend, South Wales, lays a wreath on the grave in the Berlin War Cemetery. Gerry's brother Sid was the bomb aimer in the Lancaster crew.
	Australia Media Release
To view the complete story visit http://www.raf.mod.uk/ptc/lanced867.html

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'Missing' Lancaster crew buried in Berlin.