LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Bruce Andrew Stanley ABBOTT
Service No: 422360
Born: Willoughby NSW, 2 October 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 May 1942
Unit: No. 248 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Banff
Died: Air Operations (No. 248 Squadron Mosquito aircraft HR632), off the Norwegian Coast, 12 March 1945, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Stanley McF. and Ethel Winifred Abbott, of Homebush West, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Flemington NSW
Remembered: Panel 282, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Commonwealth Bank of Australia Honour Rolls, Sydney NSW
On the afternoon of 12 March 1945 Mosquito HR632 was one of a formation of aircraft detailed to carry out an anti-shipping sweep in the Skaggerak and Kattagat. The patrol had been completed without incident, and the formation was 50 nautical miles south-west of Lister (Norway), when an interception was carried out by enemy fighter aircraft. Reports of other aircrew suggest that aircraft HR632 had been straggling up to this time and its position in the formation was No 2 in starboard section, rear squadron. One pilot of No 333 Squadron – acting as fighter crew to the formation – saw an enemy aircraft attacking and apparently scoring hits on a Mosquito at the rear of the formation. He shot the enemy aircraft down but saw nothing further of Mosquito HR 632.
The crew members of HR632 were:
Flying Officer Bruce Andrew Stanley Abbott (422360) (Navigator (W))
Warrant Officer Raymond William Moffatt (414587) (Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9300, ABBOTT B A S
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line