LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Elton Duncan BRABENDER
Service No: 401345
Born: St Arnaud VIC, 26 October 1910
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 February 1941
Unit: Ferry Command (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (Ferry Command Hudson aircraft FK413), North Atlantic Ocean, 12 July 1942, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Cameron Brabender and Charlotte Brabender, of Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Numurkah VIC
Remembered: Panel 112, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2210 hours on 12 July 1942 Hudson FK413 took off on a ferry flight from Gander, Canada, for the UK. The last contact with FK413 was at 2312 hours on 12 July when it was over the sea. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after that and F413 failed to reach its destination. In 1949 it was recorded that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of FK413 were:
Sergeant Elton Duncan Brabender (401345) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Robert Denis Crofton (70149) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Raymond Edgar Wylie (R/114080) (RCAF) (Second 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, 163/93/604