[SteveR]

From Gundy's book, p. 263. After relating what happened to LN982 it goes on:

"Martin and his crew were captured by the Bulgarians and spent four months in conditions even more wretched than those in the Romanian camp where fellow Australian John Coape-Smith and three of his crew found themselves. After bombing, Coape-Smith's Wellington was lit up by flares which had ignited above the aircraft, rather than, as was supposed to happen, well below. A night fighter took advantage of this, killing the rear gunner (Fit/Sgt R.G. Sauerwald RAAF) on the first pass and wounding the wireless operator (Sgt R.D. Kilroy RAAF) on the second. George Dealtry, the bomb aimer, recalls:

Before we had gone very far fire broke out in the centre section seemingly in the bomb bay, presumably started by a flare damaged in the attack. Unable to get to the seat of the fire it soon swept through the plane and Johnny gave orders to all of us to bale out quick smart. Dick, the wireless operator, was the first to go after the hatch had been opened. His chute was clipped on, he grabbed the ripcord handle and we pushed him out. He was still conscious despite the leg wounds. Jed (Flt/Sgt G. Cormie) the navigator was next, followed by me, after I had passed a parachute to Johnny from the stowage rack much to his surprise and no doubt heart-felt relief as only seconds earlier we had discovered one chute partially destroyed by fire; leaving us one short, we thought."

Complete crew list from p. 375:

Wellington X LP128 'O'
W/O J.D. Coape-Smith RAAF POW
Flt/Sgt G. Cormie POW
W/O R.D. Kilroy RAAF POW Wounded
Flt/Sgt G.H. Dealtry POW
Flt/Sgt R.G. Sauerwald RAAF Killed

Bucharest

Attacked by a night fighter, which set the a/c on fire and killed the rear gunner. LP128 crashed at Castranova, 30km S of Craiova, Romania. Flt/Sgt Sauerwald is buried in Bucharest war Cemetery.