Patrick Morley Rolls

To be completed

Find A Grave record (If Available)

Lancaster RF 145 of 625 Sqn RAF took off from RAF Station Kelstern, near Louth, Lincolnshire on 16 March 1945 to attack the target Nurnberg, Germany. 

Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. 

Crew: 

RAAF 424322 FO Rolls, P M, Captain (Pilot) 

RAF Sgt Jones, D B (Pilot/Engineer) 

RAAF 436573 Flt Sgt Ryan, T M (Air Bomber) 

RAAF 433648 Flt Sgt Rhodes, R C (Navigator) 

RAAF 435192 Flt Sgt Teague, T W (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) 

RAAF 437369 Flt Sgt Tarrant, C J (Mid Upper Gunner) 

RAF Sgt Clark, G A (Rear Gunner) 

In a later statement by Flt Sgt Ryan (RAAF) who became a POW, he reported “I assume the other 6 members of the crew were in the aircraft when I baled out. I have no definite information regarding their probable fate.  I saw no parachutes nor did I receive any information regarding these men after my descent.  Approx 5 minutes before reaching the target, the aircraft was hit by a night fighter. The aircraft burst into flames somewhere aft of my compartment. The Captain ordered bale out and I baled out at 16,000 feet. The aircraft appeared under control but evidently badly in flames.  Assuming that the aircraft crashed soon after my leaving, that would be 5 minutes before Nurnberg. We were on a north east heading and carrying a full bomb load when hit, and there may have been a mid-air explosion.” 

Following post war enquiries and investigations, the remains of Sgt Jones (RAF) were identified as that which fell at Burglein on the night of 16 March 45, and were interred at Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany. 

Burglein is approx 14 miles south west of Nurnbach. No trace of the aircraft or of other members of the crew was found, and in 1949 it was recorded that the missing members have no known grave 

Their names are commemorated on the Memorial of the Missing, Runnymede, UK.

To be completed