LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Malcolm BOX
Service No: 420859
Born: Bexley NSW, 7 March 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 December 1941
Unit: No. 53 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station St Eval
Died: Air Operations (No. 53 Squadron Liberator aircraft BZ800), Bay of Biscay, 17 April 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Theodore Box, and of Mary Box, of Arncliffe, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Rockdale NSW
Remembered: Panel 260, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the night of 16 April 1944 Liberator BZ800 took off from St Eval to carry out and anti-submarine patrol in the Bay of Biscay. The last contact with the aircraft was at 0445 hours on the morning of 17 April 1944, but after that nothing further was heard from BZ800 which did not return to base. It was presumed that the aircraft was missing as a result of enemy action while attacking a U-boat. In 1949 it was recorded that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of BZ800 were:
Flight Sergeant Jack Arnold Alexander (421874) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Malcolm Box (420859) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Robert John Humbles (1601503) (RAFVR)
Warrant Officer II Robert John Lawrie (R/124022) (RCAF)
Flying Officer Denis John Moore (135117) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Frederick Henry Nopper (1293712) (RAFVR)
Pilot Officer Herbert George Perks Reed (172502) (RAFVR)
Flight Lieutenant Granville Roberts (46251) (RAF)
Warrant Officer II John Lionel Stubbs (R/162969) (RCAF)
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, 166/6/503
Bibliography:
Jay, Alwyn, Endurance; Coastal Command Liberator Operations 1941-5, Banner Books, Maryborough QLD, 4650, 1996