LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Alan Greeves ARCHIBALD
Service No: 409643
Born: Moonta SA, 22 July 1910
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 October 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 53 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations (No. 53 Squadron Liberator aircraft BZ878), Atlantic Ocean, 5 February 1944, Aged 33 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas Syme Archibald and Elizabeth Mary Archibald, of Toorak Gardens, South Australia. Chartered Accountant
Roll of Honour: Burnside SA
Remembered: Panel 257, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1853 hours on 4 February 1944 Liberator BZ878 took off from St Eval to carry out a Leigh Light anti-submarine patrol in the Atlantic. At 0400 hours on 5 February 1944, a diversion signal was sent to the aircraft but was not acknowledged and nothing further was received or heard from the aircraft and crew.
The crew members of BZ878 were:
Flying Officer Alan Greeves Archibald (409643) (Second Navigator)
Flying Officer Richard Samuel Henry Browning (136809) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Alan Campbell (974194) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator (Air)
Flying Officer Walter Lawrence Englert (J/24454) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Frank William Gander (1418028) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Frederick Charles Langridge (133209) (RAFVR) (First Navigator)
Sergeant William Francis Reid (R/180099) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer David Allan Rowat (J/27310) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Dennis Frederick Taylor (629593) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant John MacLeod Tomlinson (R/188523) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
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, 163/88/123
Bibliography:
Jay, Alwyn, Endurance; Coastal Command Liberator Operations 1941-5, Banner Books, Maryborough QLD, 4650, 1996