LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Maxwell Bibra BLAUBAUM
Service No: 428038
Born: Launceston TAS, 24 January 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 October 1942
Unit: No. 622 Squadron (RAF), RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk
Died: Air Operations (No. 622 Squadron Lancaster aircraft IM511), North Sea, 12 September 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Otto and Winifred Eva Blaubaum, of Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Launceston TAS
Remembered: Panel 260, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster IM511 of 622 Squadron took off from RAF Station Mildenhall at 1932 hours on night of 11 September 1944, to lay mines in enemy waters off Rostock, Germany. Nothing further was heard of the aircraft or crew after take off. In a 1949 report it was concluded that aircraft and crew were all lost at sea.
The crew members of IM511 were:
Sergeant John Beaumont Bell (1564498) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Maxwell Bibra Blaubaum (428038) (Navigator/Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Ronald Burton (1591487) (RAFVR)
Sergeant John James Coyle (1900036) (RAFVR)
Pilot Officer Eena Norman Devine (426556) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant George Robert Ferguson (429544) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Charles Mawbey Meyer (1896033) (RAFVR)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/5/694