David's Record Sheet is shown below. He formed a crew of five with John Richardson, Joseph Kershaw, John Waterson and Richard Lewis at 24 Operational Training Unit, RAF Honeybourne, Worcestershire between mid December 1942 and mid April 1943 where they learned to fly in 2-engined aircraft. After that they went to 1663 Conversion Unit at Rufforth to train on 4-engined bombers, before being assigned to 77 Squadron at Elvington on 16th May 1943. They were all killed ten days after joining the Squadron on 26th May 1943 when their Halifax JB837 was shot down by Major Walter Ehle on their way to bomb Düsseldorf.

David was the son of Frederick J. MacFarlane and Zylpha C. MacFarlane of Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada.

David has many relatives living in Canada, including sisters and cousins. David's neice, Kim MacFarlane, lives in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, Canada, and she provided this photograph which shows David, second from left, in full combat outfit with unknown colleagues.

The fact that there are seven aircrew in the photograph would indicate that they are from a heavy bomber, either a Stirling or a Halifax. The fourth airman from the left may be Phil Compton: if this is the case, there are no records of any casualty of that name in the Commonwealth Graves Commission database, which suggests that he survived the war. This is not the aircrew with whom David was flying when he lost his life (in Halifax JB837).