LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Bruce Oswald BOWN
Service No: 413950
Born: Hawthorn VIC, 27 October 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1941
Unit: No. 1 Advanced Flying Unit (RAF), RAF Station Wigtown
Died: Aircraft Accident (No 1 Advanced Flying Unit Anson aircraft AX145), Scotland, 1 January 1943, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Silloth (Causewayhead) Cemetery, Holme Low, Cumberland
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Albert Henry and Edith Margaret Bown, of Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia; husband of Winifred Moore Bown, of Kew, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Hawthorn VIC
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 1 January 1943, Anson AX145 took off from Wigtown on a non-operational navigation training flight. The last Wireless Telegraph message was received from the aircraft at 1900 hours, when an acknowledgement of the correct frequency was received. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft which failed to return to base. Searches were conducted at daybreak, but no trace of the missing aircraft or crew were found. On the night of January 29 a message was received that an aircraft had been sighted on a very high crag near Skiddaw. Searches confirmed that this was the missing aircraft and that all on board had been killed in the crash.
The crew members of AX45 were:
Pilot Officer Bruce Oswald Bown (413950) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer William Burt (129765) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Edwin Omer Knight (414574) (Navigator)
Sergeant George David Singleton (1257904) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer William Basil Cheale Thompson (J/16171) (RCAF) (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 A705, 166/6/6