LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Anthony Edward GILLESPIE
Service No: 439630
Born: Mosman NSW, 28 April 1925
Enlisted in the RAAF: 14 July 1943
Unit: No. 163 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Wyton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 163 Squadron Mosquito aircraft KB568), Germany, 8 March 1945, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas Joseph and Florence Mary Margaret Gillespie, of Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Mosman NSW
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Flight Sergeant Gillespie is one youngest Australian Navigators to be killed on operations in the Second World War.
At 1845 hours on the night of 8 March 1945 Mosquito KB568 took off from Wyton detailed to bomb Kassel, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at Hasselbach approximately 24 miles north from Koblenz. Flight Sergeant Gillespie was killed and Flight Lieutenant Cooper was able to bale out and survived.
The crew members of KB568 were:
Flight Lieutenant H T Cooper (125621) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Anthony Edward Gillespie (439630) (Navigator)
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, 166/15/435