Flight Lieutenant Robert Lance Jenyns
- Rank
- Flight Lieutenant
- Service number
- 17332
- Unit
- Royal Australian Air Force Attached 218 Squadron Royal Air Force
- Cause of death
- Killed in Action
- Place of death
- Chedburgh, England
- Date of death
- 24 April 1945
- Age
- 28
- Plaque number
- L402
- Dedicated by
- Family on 18 February 2012
- More information
Biography presented during plaque dedication:
Flight Lieutenant Robert Lance Jenyns of 218 Squadron was born in Perth in September 1916. He was the only son of Hilda and Horace Jenyns of Mount Hawthorn and was born in the middle of six, loving sisters.
He attended school at Mount Hawthorn and after leaving was employed as a confectioner at Mount Lawley.
Bob enlisted in Perth in July 1940. He trained in Victoria at Laverton and Deniliquin in New South Wales on de Havilland Tiger Moths and Avro Ansons and received his flying badge in August 1943.
He embarked from Sydney in October 1943 and arrived in the United Kingdom in November.
After more training, he was posted to 218 (Gold Coast) Squadron which flew Lancasters at Chedburgh.
Bob was promoted to flying officer in late 1944 and promoted to flight lieutenant in early 1945.
His Lancaster NF955 crashed on take-off after both starboard engines failed.
At the subsequent enquiry, Flight Lieutenant Jenyns was commended for preventing a worse tragedy by avoiding the WAAF sleeping quarters and the nearby village. Circling at very low altitude while trying to keep his plane airborne, he deliberately crashed the Lancaster into a field, also avoiding the control tower.
Flight Lieutenant Robert Lance Jenyns, service number 17332 of 218 Squadron, was killed in action at Chedburgh, England on 24 April 1945. He was 28 years of age.