Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

F/Lt Don Howe from Melbourne Vic had trained for operational flying as first officer on Roger Newton's crew , with Norman Sheehan, before being promoted to crew captain.
On the 29 November 1943 he was conducting a anti-submarine patrol over the Bay of Biscay when he reported "being attacked by enemy aircraft" nothing further was heard from the crew
In 1999 a photograph of his Sunderland engulfed in a ball of smoke and flame was discovered in a book on the Luftwaffe crews who battled the Sunderland's over the Bay during 1943-1944 It had been taken by a German pilot who had shot down the Sunderland when a cannon shell hit a depth charge on board the flying boat causing it to explode in mid air .No member of the Sunderland's crew survived the explosion
Those lost were
F/Lt D.S.P Howe
F/O J.J. Dupont DFM of Toorak Vic
P/O G.Y. Temple of Reade Park Adelaide SA
F/O W.J. Withers of Inverell NSW
F/O G. W .B. Bye of Bellevue Hill NSW
F/Sgt L White of Cambridge England
F/Sgt J.H Royal of Taringa Brisbane QLD
F/Sgt L.G Studman of Osborne Park Perth WA
F/Sgt W.K Moritz of Hawthorne Vic
F/O K .V. Hore of Roseville NSW
F/O E.R. Critcher of Homebush NSW
F/Sgt R Jeffreys of Glasgow
F/Sgt J.H .Poulten of Roseville NSW