F/Sgt. George John Patrick O'Brien
Royal Australian Air Force 106 Squadron
from:Petersham, NSW
(d.12th March 1945)
George O'Brien, was a Flight Sergeant in the Royal Australian Air Force. He was killed on the 12th March 1945 with 106 Squadron when Lancaster I RA503 ZN-B took off from Metheringham at 1330 to bomb Dortmund and was lost without trace. Aged 21 he was the son of Mr and Mrs H J O'Brien of Petersham, New South Wales, Australia.
Part of a force of 1108 aircraft, 748 Lancasters, 292 Halifaxes and 68 Mosquitoes, tasked to attack Dortmund. In what was to be the final raid on this target by Bomber Command. This force surpassed the previous days record for most aircraft dispatched, as well as eclipsing the previous single bomb tonnage record to be dropped on a single target. Bombing once again through heavy cloud and using sky marking some 4,851 tones of bombs and incendiaries feel on the center and southern districts of the city. Local reports are not available and it is possible that none were submitted. A British post war investigation team researching the bombing in Dortmund,recorded in volume three of the Official History that 'This final raid stopped production so effectively that it would have been many months before any substantial recovery could have occurred.
Two aircraft, were lost, 2 Lancasters. The aircraft was lost without trace. All of the crew have no known graves and are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
