Sergeant Donald John Kelsall BARON (1389866)
300 (Polish) Squadron Royal Air Force

Date of birth: 26th March 1922
Date of death: 30th August 1944

Killed in action aged 22
Buried at Falkenberg Forest Cemetery Section III Grave 105
Donald John Kelsall Baron was born in Hampstead on the 26th of March 1922 the third son of Dr Alfred Edward Baron MD and Constance Evelyn (nee Palmer) Baron of 1 Platts Lane, Hampstead in London.

He was educated at Lancing College where he was in Sandersons House from May 1936 to July 1939.

He enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve where he rose to the rank of Sergeant.

On the 29th of August 1944 Bomber Command despatched 402 Lancasters and a Mosquito for a raid on Stettin. The raid was successful, destroying 23 industrial premises and 1,569 houses. Also a ship of 2,000 tons was sunk and a further 7 ships, totalling 31,000 tons, were also destroyed.

Donald Baron and his crew took off from RAF Faldingworth in Lincolnshire at 9.15pm on the 29th of August 1944 in Lancaster Mk1 ED327 BH-R for the operation.

During the mission the aircraft was heavily damaged by a night fighter attack over Jutland.
The pilot, Harry Lupton, steered the aircraft towards neutral Sweden but the aircraft crashed into the sea to the northeast of Anholt shortly before 1am on the 30th. Donald Baron's body was recovered off Falkenberg on the 8th of September; the rest of the crew have no known grave.

The crew was:-

Pilot Officer Harry Lupton (Pilot)
Sergeant John Bryce Hamilton (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Kenneth James Jewell (Navigator)
Sergeant Donald John Kelsall Baron (Air Bomber)
Warrant Officer Frederick William White RAAF (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Ivor Charles Vaughan (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Stanley Sutton Barnett (Rear Gunner)

Theirs was one of three 300 Squadron aircraft lost on the raid and one of twenty three aircraft lost on the operation altogether.

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