Decades-long mystery solved as lost bomber crew identified

Four airmen who died when their Lancaster bomber crashed in Germany in December 1944 were finally honoured by name after an 82-year search uncovered the truth behind one of Bomber Command’s wartime mysteries. 

Earlier today at the CWGC’s Venray War Cemetery in the Netherlands a service was held for Flying Officer (Fg Off) Leslie Markland Hough, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF); Pilot Officer (Plt Off) John Henry Tales, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR); Sergeant (Sgt) Henry Charles Burnside RAFVR and Sgt John Lawson RAFVR, whose remains lay in graves marked ‘unknown’ for decades following a series of post-war administrative errors. 

On the morning of 8 December 1944, the Lancaster PD374 of No. 218 Squadron RAF departed RAF Methwold in Norfolk as part of a force of more than 130 tasked with attacking the Neerbeck oil plant at Homberg in Germany’s Ruhr region. From the seven man Lancaster crew; three escaped by parachute and were taken as Prisoners of War and the other four lost their lives. 

Today we honour the British and Australian airmen who served and died together during World War 2. To have so many families present here today has made this occasion especially poignant, and seeing them interacting with members of the local community who have adopted these graves incredibly moving.

Family of the crew of Lancaster PD 374 and military personnel at the graveside (Crown Copyright)

Plt Off Tales, born in Attercliffe, Sheffield, on 31 December 1917 was one of eleven children. He worked as a poster writer before enlisting in the RAF in September 1939 where he built an exemplary service record. Despite having already completed a full operational tour, he volunteered to return to frontline operations and joined No. 218 Squadron in August 1944. 

John Tales, nephew of Plt Off Tales, who attended the service with other family members said: