LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Anthony Phillip BRANDER
Service No: 424362
Born: Broadmeadow NSW, 23 April 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 September 1942
Unit: No. 61 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Skellingthorpe
Died: Air Operations (No. 61 Squadron Lancaster aircraft DV400), Germany, 27 January 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Hanover War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leslie Elgin Brander and Ruby Clarice Brander, of Broadmeadow, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Broadmeadow NSW
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Flying Officer Harry Sutton Brander (403658)
At 1740 hours on the night of 27 January 1944 Lancaster DV400 took off from Skellingthorpe detailed to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft crashed near the town of Northeim, Germany. DV400 was still carrying its bomb load and blew up when it collided with No. 101 Squadron (RAF) Lancaster DV231. All but one of the crew members on both aircraft were killed.
The crew members of DV400 were:
Flying Officer Alan Victor Beetch (145379) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Anthony Phillip Brander (424362) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Bernard Clark (1578273) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Pilot Officer Lloyd Wesley Cuming (J/87849) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer Frank Langley (156735) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant William Warburton (1067053) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Robert Alexander West (124663) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
The crew members of DV231 were:
Sergeant Eric Henry Alcock ((2209054) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Ernest Samuel Baron (658353) (RAF)
Sergeant Kenneth Bartholomew (1605920) (RAFVR)
Flying Officer John Clark (144761) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Richard Thomas Ottewell (1337810) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Austin James Sandford (1322905) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Terence Dennis Simpson (1339616) (RAFVR)
Sergeant A H Smallman (1834900) (RAFVR) PoW
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, 166/6/397