LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Thomas Robert Bowden ANDERSON
Service No: 409081
Born: Warrnambool VIC, 10 July 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 July 1941
Unit: No. 65 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 65 Squadron Mustang aircraft FB160), France, 10 June 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Ranville War Cemetery, Calvados, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas John Bowden Anderson and Matilda Louisa Westcott Anderson, of Moonee Ponds, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Moonee Ponds VIC
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 10 June 1944 Mustang FB160 flown by Flight Lieutenant Anderson took off in a Squadron formation of 6 aircraft to carry out an armed reconnaissance to support the Allied armies landing in France. At 0545 hours FB160 failed to pull out of a dive while strafing enemy transport on the road between Falaise and Caen and it crashed into the ground and completely disintegrated.
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 A705, 166/3/230