Noel Richard Keys                                                                                 Updated: 14 OCT 2021

Airman: e777279.htm Surname: Keys Init: N R Rank: F/Sgt Service: RAAF Sqdn: 97

P_link: p349.htm Plane: LAN ND807 Operation: Bomb G Crash_site: Sea off Sejerø

Crash_d: d270844 Buried_d: e777 C_link: e777.htm At_Next: NO KNOWN

Den 27. august 1944 kl. 02.25 styrtede LAN ND807 i havet nordøst for Sejerø, omkring her. Flyvehistorisk Tidsskrift skriver:

"174 Lancasters skulle bombe havneområdet i Königsberg (Kaliningrad, her), hvorfra den vigende tyske hær fik livsvigtige forsyninger. 4 Lancasters gik tabt, hvoraf de
3 blev skudt ned over dansk område af tyske natjagere. Over Sejerø bugten blev ND807 pludselig ramt af »Schräge Musik« (faste maskingeværer, der skyder opad)
fra en tysk natjager, der havde listet sig ind under det engelske bombefly. Vingetankene brød i brand, og kun de to skytter nåede at forlade flyet med faldskærm, før
det ramte vandet og eksploderede. Reargunner, F/Sgt Trefor Roebeck Glandon Owen, druknede og blev den 26. oktober begravet på Grebbestad kirkegård i Sverige.
Efter krigen blev han overflyttet til Kviberg kirkegård vedteborg. Mid-upper gunner, Sgt. Robert Allan Swolf, blev om morgenen samlet op af to beboere fra Sejerø,
og ved ankomsten til øen blev han taget til fange af tyskerne. Resten af besætningen har ingen kendt grav." (FT 88-41-31)

Flight Sergeant Noel Richard Keys, 23 år, var søn af Charles Philp Keys og Lily Jane Gifford Keys, Dalby, Queensland, Australien. Spejderfører.
Hans navn er på Panel 261 på the Runnymede Memorial blandt mere end 20.000 navne på flyvere, der ikke har en kendt grav. (Kilde: CWGC)


1 flyver fra 
LAN ND807 blev begravet i Sverige, 5 har ingen kendt grav og 1 blev taget til fange af tyskerne. 7 flyvere.

On 27 August 1944 at 02.25 hours LAN ND807 crashed into the sea north east of Sejerø, about here. (Danish) Aviation Historical Review writes:

"174 Lancasters were to bomb the harbour of Königsberg (Kaliningrad, here) from which the retreating German army received vital supplies. 4 Lancasters were lost.
3 of them were shot down over Danish territory by German night fighters. Suddenly over the Sejerø Bay ND807 was hit by Schräge Musik (upward firing guns) from
a German night fighter which had sneaked in below the English bomber. The wing tanks caught fire and only the 2 gunners managed to bail out before the plane
hit the water and exploded.  Reargunner, F/Sgt Trefor Roebeck Glandon Owen drowned. On 26 October 1944 he was buried in Grebbestad Churchyard in Sweden.
After the war he was taken to
Kviberg Cemetery near Gothenburg. In the morning Mid-upper gunner, Sgt. Robert Allan Swolf was picked up by two residents of
Sejerø. He was captured by the Germans when he arrived at the island. The rest of the crew have no known grave." (FT 88-41-31)

Flight Sergeant Noel Richard Keys, 23, was the son of Charles Philp Keys and Lily Jane Gifford Keys, of Dalby, Queensland, Australia. Scoutmaster.
He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 261, among more than 20,000 airmen who have no known grave. (Source: CWGC)
Virtual War Memorial Australia has this. He is remembered on The Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, Phase 1, Panel 59.

1 airman from LAN ND807 was buried in Sweden, 5 have no known graves and 1 one was captured by the Germans.
Lancaster I AE301 ZN-  took off from RAF Coningsby at 2200 hrs on 26 AUG 1941. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this.) See Lancaster Photos.
See
No. 97 Squadron RAF - Wikipedia and 97 Squadron Association. No. 97 Squadron (RAF) during the Second World War.
See RAF Coningsby at RAF-Lincolnshire-info and RAF Coningsby 2018. See Google Map RAF-Coningsby. 7 airmen.