LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Ronald Oswald Charles BRETT
Service No: 410446
Born: Lismore VIC, 7 July 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 30 January 1942 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 207 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Langar
Died: Air Operations: (No. 207 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED412), Switzerland, 12 July 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Vevey (St Martin’s) Cemetery, Switzerland
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Percy and Lydia Brett, of Mount Bute, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Lismore VIC
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2235 hours on the night of 12 July1943 Lancaster ED412 took off from Langar detailed to bomb Torino, Italy. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft strayed into Swiss airspace and was shot down by anti-aircraft fire, crashing on Mount Grannont above le Bouvenent, where in 1993 a Memorial was erected to the crew. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of ED412 were:
Pilot Officer Horace Badge (155766) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Oswald Charles Brett (410446) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Edward Higgins (950684) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Arthur Charles Jepps (45724) (RAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant James Arthur Spence (1230748) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Wood (991246) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Arthur Charles Wright (1149750) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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, 163/93/513